


Rewrite The Stars

by our_pens_are_sharp



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, I honestly have no idea what to put as tags, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Manipulation, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Pregnancy, Trans Character, Trans Male Character, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-11-13 11:18:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 28
Words: 52,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18030722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/our_pens_are_sharp/pseuds/our_pens_are_sharp
Summary: Imagine waking up one day and finding yourself in the middle of your favourite show. A dream come true- unless the show is Game of Thrones and you're suddenly surrounded by a bunch of complete psychopaths.David always liked the series until he suddenly became part of it. Trapped with the Boltons of all people he has to make use of his knowledge of the show to somehow survive the chaos his life has turned into. All the while he's determined to save some of his favourite characters from the horrible fate he knows is awaiting them. This turns out to be rather difficult because as we know... if you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If someone actually managed to find this- hello there!  
> This is the first fanfiction I've ever had the confidence to upload. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, but I certainly am happy with it. Feel free to point out any occuring grammar mistakes as I'm not a native speaker.  
> That being said- enjoy the ride!

He'd always wondered what it would be like to live in a fictional world. To live out the story of a show or book, chat with his favourite characters. Needless to say, he deeply regretted this wish once this dream come true turned into a living nightmare.

 

David woke up hearing voices talking quietly around him. He was laying in a bed but could easily tell it was not his own one; unless someone had switched his blanket for furs.

He slowly opened one eye and the whispering around him immediately stopped, "she's awake."

David rubbed his eyes and his blue gaze was met by two strangely familiar pairs of orbs. Hesitantly he looked around, frowning in confusion, "where am I...?", he found himself looking right into a pair of icy, incredibly pale eyes, "wait, you-you're Ramsay Bolton."

The man furrowed his brows, "my name's Snow, but... how do you know my name, to begin with?"

David struggled to sit up on the bed, but immediately fell down again as his vision began to blur, "I uh... don't really think I can explain."

'This is a dream', he thought, 'either a dream or a very good cosplayer that broke into my room. Only that this is not my room. Definitely a dream.'

 

"You know my name", Ramsay said slowly and stepped closer to the bed, "now if you could please tell us yours?"

"David", his voice cracked as he stared at the man before him, still convinced this must be a dream.

"David?", a man standing behind Ramsay repeated, who David identified as Roose Bolton, "that doesn't sound like a woman's name."

"Because it's not. I'm a guy!"

Ramsay chuckled, a mocking grin appeared on his lips, "are you sure? Last time I checked men did not have a big chest or a pretty face like this."

"I know but- listen", David groaned, "yeah, I have a female body. I was born as a girl. But I'm not. Sometimes people are born in a body of the wrong gender, that just happens. I'm a boy."

"Of course you are", Ramsay's voice was dripping with sarcasm, "what's your real name?"

"David."

 

"Stop fooling around, girl", Roose said quietly, "just tell us the name your mother gave you."

"That's none of your business", the boy snarled. He knew to provoke a Bolton was probably a horrible idea, but it was a dream anyway, he'd wake up at some point. And suddenly there was a hand gripping his short hair while another one closed around his throat.

"Listen, kid", Ramsay growled, "I don't care if you think you're a boy or not. But if my father asks for your name, you tell him your fucking name. You have one more chance give a correct answer before I snap your neck or drag you to the dungeons for worse."

This was a dream. It could be nothing but a strange dream, he kept telling himself over and over. Yet that dream hurt. David coughed as he suddenly found it hard to breathe. Could a dream feel this realistic?

 

"Fine", he spat, squirming in Ramsay's grip, "Alice! My birth name is Alice."

Immediately the hand around his throat disappeared. Ramsay gave him an innocent smile that made his heart jump, "thank you for your cooperation."

"So?", Roose Bolton asked, "now this is settled, tell us how you ended up here."

David grimaced, "I honestly don't know. My head hurts... I don't remember getting here."

Ramsay cleared his throat, "you quite literally appeared out of nowhere. I found you laying in the middle of the fort unconscious, laying on the floor and clutching a book to your chest."

"A book?", David tilted his head. He felt like he should remember something, "what book?"

Ramsay pointed to a small table next to the bed. David had to stop himself from bursting into laughter as he saw the book laying on top of it, "A Storm Of Swords... seriously? Fucking Game of Thrones."

"It looks quite unusual", Ramsay picked up the book and looked at it, "what's the deal with it?"

"Don't touch it!", David snapped, "I mean- please don't touch the book. I don't think you should read that, it's... just put it back down? Please?"

 

Roose Bolton sighed and shook his head, "what shall we do with this girl?"

"I may have an idea, father", Ramsay said slowly, patting David's head, "say, Alice, are you highborn? Your may look strange, but certainly not like a peasant."

David slowly nodded, despite not fully understanding Ramsay's point yet.

"Good", he turned to his father and smiled, "I think we can agree that there are special circumstances that have lead this young lady to our home. I think she may be a present sent by the gods. Perhaps she's destined to help continue the bloodline of our house."

"What are you trying to say, Ramsay?"

"I believe the gods want you to make me your heir by sending this woman as my bride."

"Bride?!", David's voice involuntarily jumped a pitch higher, "don't I get a saying in that?"

Ramsay flashed the sweetest smile, "do you disagree with me? If so, that means you're an intruder and we have to handle you as such."

David gulped. Why? Why in the world did he end up with the Boltons of all people? He had always possessed a weak spot for the series' biggest psychopath, but that didn't mean he had to show up in his dreams!

"I don't know why exactly I'm here", he said slowly, "but I can assure you I'm not an intruder."

"Maybe Ramsay is right", Roose said, "maybe you are here for a reason. Fine, I'll have the king naturalise you, boy. You will be a Bolton. Then you may marry your fortune girl."

Without any further words, he left the room, leaving David alone with Ramsay, who observed him with visible interest.

 

"So, David", he said, putting mocking emphasis on the name, "that's how you wanna be called, isn't it? Since you just proved yourself useful to me you may keep that name. Thanks to you I will be my father's heir soon. I think I'm starting to like you."

"I like you too, Ramsay", David said cautiously, "as long as you don't suddenly decide to hurt, torture or murder me."

He tilted his head and gave him an innocent look, "why would I?"

"Simply because you're Ramsay Bol- Snow. You are the definition of cruelty."

Ramsay narrowed his eyes, "what do you know about me?"

"Quite a lot", David shrugged, "I know many things I can't explain."

 

The man stepped over to the small table and yet again picked up the book, "does this have anything to do with the things you know?"

"Put it down!", David yelped, "I mean... please put it down. Yeah okay, I get some information from that book, but not all of it. Now please just put it back, it's not really a good idea to read about your future. The book is not accurate anyway."

"My future?", Ramsay raised one eyebrow, "what are you, a fortune teller? A witch?"

"I'm not a witch", David hesitated, looking for the right words, "I just... happen to know a lot about things that have happened in Westeros and things that will happen."

"Prove it", Ramsay shot him a curious look, "tell me something you couldn't possibly know without some sort of magic."

"Okay, but only one little thing! Let me think...", David breathed out in relief as Ramsay but down the book again, "let's see, what could I tell you that doesn't raise concern? Oh, I know, Reek!"

The Bolton bastard took a step back and looked at him in surprise, "you know Reek?"

"Yup! And I can tell what's gonna happen with him. Reek's- I mean Theon's sister Yara will try to rescue him sooner or later. But until then Theon is so mind broken that he refuses to leave with her, which leads to her declaring him dead."

 

Ramsay went silent for a second, seeming to think about his words.

"Well", he then said, "this does sound plausible. Tell me more!"

David shook his head, "one thing is more than enough! More will only worry you and I don't think it's a good thing to worry you. Happy Ramsay is my favourite Ramsay."

Ramsay chuckled, "I'll get more out of you eventually if I need to. This could become handy if you're really telling the truth."

David shrugged, "you can try, sweetheart", he finally managed to get up and off the bed, "it's boring in here. Can you show me around? I wanna see your hounds!"

"Oh, I will gladly show you my hounds", Ramsay smirked and quickly scanned him from top to bottom, "but you should change into some more appropriate clothing first."

"Can you get me male clothes?"

The man seemed amused by that, "of course, Little Lord."

  
  
  
  


A few minutes later the two of them were heading to the kennels. David noticed how they actually looked pretty similar now; apart of David wearing hand-down clothes of Ramsay they shared the same dark curls and bright eyes. The most prominent difference in their appearance was their smile. While Ramsay's happiness always had a sinister tone to it, David's smile was warm and sincere.

"So, I know your hounds are trained to kill people and stuff", the boy said, "but... can you get one out so I can pet it?"

"Pet it?", Ramsay laughed, "those are full grown and very hungry hounds and you want to pet one?"

David shrugged, "dogs deserve affection. And food, you should consider feeding them more often."

"That defies their point. They spill more blood when hungry", slowly Ramsay walked through the rows of kennels.

"That may as well be your blood, Bolton."

"My hounds would never harm me", Ramsay's words made David chuckle.

"Of course. They're loyal beasts."

 

"Come over here", the man stopped at one of the last kennels, “this one recently gave birth. I guess a puppy won't rip you apart yet."

David's eyes lit up, "puppies?! Ramsay, you are awesome!"

He unlocked the kennel door, snatching a tiny black puppy from the hay and setting it down in front of David. The boy immediately bent down and started petting the little creature, "aren't you just adorable? What a cute little guy you are!"

The puppy wagged its tail, happily jumping up at him. David giggled, pressing the young dog closer to his chest, "thank you, Ramsay. He's way too precious, look at those big grey puppy eyes!"

"How can anyone be this excited over a damn dog?", Ramsay asked, smirking.

"Have you looked at it?", David asked, "dogs are beautiful creatures. I prefer their company over humans, dogs can't talk shit."

 

Ramsay looked like he was about to say something when they heard the sound of a door creaking open. David raised his head to see a sickly looking man stand at the end of the kennel rows staring at them almost terrified.

Ramsay's smirk grew darker, "oh, hello Reek. Why don't you come closer and meet my betrothed-"

"David", the boy quickly finished his sentence. He got up, the puppy following as he walked towards the shaking figure who once had been Theon Greyjoy, "hello, Theon. It's nice to meet you!"

Theon nervously looked at him, then at Ramsay and back, not sure what to do or how to react.

"Don't call him Theon", Ramsay said, "that name doesn't fit him anymore. He is Reek."

"No", David replied, "he looks like a Theon to me."

"You look like an Alice to me, Little Lord."

"Now you're not being fair!", the boy snapped at him, "other than him I chose another name. I refuse to call him Reek", he gently smiled at Theon, "you're still a Greyjoy. You'll always be. Ramsay calling you a different name won't change that."

Theon bowed his head, "y-you're being too generous, but I'm just Reek m'lady."

 

Suddenly Ramsay kicked him off his feet and Theon crashed down face first, "are you deaf, Reek? Or maybe just stupid? I just heard you call David 'my lady'. Tell me, does David sound like a girl's name to you?"

"N-no master", Theon croaked, curling up, "I-I'm very sorry! Forgive your stupid Reek, please master? I-I made a mistake."

David frowned, "there was no need to hurt him over this."

"Gods do you want to be a man or not, make up your mind!"

David ignored him and reached out a hand to help Theon back to his feet, but Ramsay slapped his wrist away, "don't. He doesn't deserve kindness."

The boy glared at him, "has anyone ever told you your looks don't match your ugly personality? How can you find so much joy in hurting someone?"

Ramsay chucked "it's fun. Just look at him, laying there. Try for yourself, kick him."

"I am _not_ going to hurt Theon", again he reached out and pulled Theon up, "you can do whatever you want, but I don't like causing people pain, especially mentally unstable ones."

Ramsay's smile widened, "you know... I could let you chose. Either you hurt him or I hurt you."

David shrugged, despite feeling uneasy, "at least you're leaving Theon alone then."

The man looked dissatisfied with that reply, "there's no fun in torturing you if you don't even try to stop me!", he picked up the puppy that now ran around his feet, "I'll bring the pup back to his mother now. It's almost time for us to join my father at dinner."

  
  


David knew people were staring at him as they walked through the fort, so he did his best to hide in Ramsay's shadow. When they sat down in the dining hall Roose Bolton certainly did not look amused to see his new clothes. When he asked his son about it, the latter simply replied, "breeches, dresses, who cares, she's not gonna wear any of it in bed anyway."

David silently nibbled at his food, avoiding eye contact.

"You're quiet", Ramsay noticed, "you wouldn't stop babbling earlier, what happened to that?"

"People happened", he muttered, glaring at a servant passing by the table, " as I said, I prefer dogs. Dogs don't stare."

Ramsay ruffled his short hair, "they are staring because my new lady doesn't look like a lady. If there were some actual lords around your preferences in clothing could embarrass me, Little Lord."

"Do I look like I care about your embarrassment?"

The young Bolton smirked, "oh, you should care. Or else I might just get rid of you and find myself a more suitable bride."

 

David gulped, "by 'getting rid' you mean murder...?"

"Depends on how annoyed I am by you. Maybe I'll torture you a little first."

"I don't really feel like dying", David said, "guess I'll try to not embarrass you too much, Lord Bolton."

"Lord Bolton", he repeated, "I could get used to that. You know, it would be very easy for both of us if you just wear women's clothes."

David bit his lip, "I can't. They make me feel extremely uncomfortable."

Ramsay shrugged, "it's not like I really care. Other people do though."

"Just let me wear what I want, Ramsay", David poked him, "you're soon going to be a powerful Lord, aren't you? So you don't really need to care about what other people think anyway. You're better than them."

The bastard laughed, "you know how to sugar your words just enough to make others believe them, don't you? Be careful or I might cut out that sweet tongue of yours."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House Bolton is celebrating a wedding. And after every wedding ceremony follows a wedding night... that David doesn't particularly look forward to

David's room was located near Ramsay's. The man didn't seem to have any interest in visiting his chambers, but still, David was not keen on staying there overnight. He grabbed a bunch of furs off the bed and made his way to the kennels.

Theon looked up from his sleeping place when he heard the footsteps. The young Greyjoy seemed to be confused as well as frightened upon seeing Ramsay's new little bride approach.

 

"Hey Theon", David said happily, sitting down next to him, "come on, stop looking at me like that. I won't harm you, I just want to sleep out here."

"Why...?", Theon asked slowly, "d-did master...?"

"He didn't send me down here. Actually, he doesn't even know I'm here", the boy spread out some of the furs to make himself comfortable, "I wanted to be near the hounds. I also brought some food so I can give them a little treat."

"Won't he be mad?", Theon asked nervously.

David smiled, "maybe. But I’m not really doing anything wrong, am I? He never said I had to stay in my room and I’m not trying to run away.”

 

He noticed Theon trembling and handed him one of the furs, "you must be cold. Here, that should help a little."

"You are too kind", the man whispered, bowing his head.

"I just treat you like a person", David took a few pieces of meat from his pockets and tossed them into the hounds' kennels, "you know, I'm not Ramsay. I don't like seeing others in pain. Well, if they're people I like. And I like you, Theon."

The poor man looked like he was about to cry and David wasn't sure whether it was out of joy or confusion or fright.

 

"Damn, Ramsay really hurt you badly", he whispered, sitting down again, "I'm sorry Theon. For all the things he has done to you."

"You c-can't even imagine what he did", Theon muttered.

"Oh, I can. He's cruel, I know. But we have to get along with him, don't we? Maybe I can somehow convince him to hurt you less...", David yawned, "well, I’ll try that tomorrow. I'm going to sleep now. Rest well, Theon Greyjoy."

  
  
  


David woke up when a foot lightly kicked his side.

"Hey!", he complained, rubbing his eyes, "what was that for?"

"Why in the world are you down here?", an angry voice asked.

"Ramsay?", David looked up slowly, "I'm still dreaming, you're not real. I'm going back to sleep."

"I don't think so", the bastard growled and kicked him again, using a little more force, "get up and answer my question. Now."

 

The boy stretched and slowly sat up, "yeah yeah, I'm on it. I just came here to be closer to the hounds."

"...Why?"

"Because", David glared at him, "I like their company more than yours. Plus I didn't feel like staying in my room."

"No?", Ramsay flashed him a smile full of fake pity, "poor Little Lord. Were you scared that I might join you in bed before our wedding night?"

"Maybe a little bit..."

Ramsay laughed mockingly, "I can assure you, I'm not interested in doing so. There are many women around who I'd rather bed than you."

David pouted, "now you're just being rude! You could have phrased that a little less like an insult... anyway, what's the plan for today?"

 

"I have some things to discuss with my father. He sent a raven to King’s Landing concerning my legitimisation, we’re hoping the reply will return this evening still", he smiled sinisterly, "you will spend your day having your wedding dress prepared by the maids, sweetling. Afterwards, do whatever you want to. But let me warn you, if you should attempt to leave this place, you will die, or, if you life long enough to be brought back to me, wish you were dead. Why don't you spend the day with Reek? You seem to like him a lot."

"Your talk about dresses and murder didn't really sound like fun", David replied, "but wandering around with Theon is fine for me. Today might as well turn out to be a wonderful day."

"Oh, I hope so", Ramsay's smile grew even wider, "after all, this is your wedding day."

The boy's face fell, "you said you were busy."

 

"Oh, I am. And once I’m done in the evening we’re getting married. Meaning that instead of the kennels you will stay in my, or better our chambers tonight."

Apparently, David's startled expression was hilarious, because Ramsay suddenly began laughing, "you really should see yourself right now!", he ruffled the boy's hair and looked at him with cruel amusement glistening in his eyes, "well then. Enjoy your day, David."

  
  


David spent the day almost feeling like a second Reek, ducking away from everyone's eyes and shaking permanently. He tried to distract himself by feeding the dogs, talking to Theon and skimming through the pages of his book. Nevertheless, his mind kept wandering off to what might happen in the evening. He was still convinced that he must be trapped in a very weird dream. Still, the idea of getting married to a psychopathic sadist who would most likely rape him just like he did to Sansa in the tv series made him feel very uneasy. David had always thought of Ramsay Bolton as an extremely interesting character. Now that he was dealing with him in person he was simply terrified of him.

 

When Ramsay returned to him the sun was just starting to set. The world seemed to drown in brilliant red and golden light. It could have been a beautiful sight if David wouldn't have felt like his heart was about to collapse in his chest.

The maids had dressed him in a plain, yet pretty white dress lined with fur. He was sure in the eyes of anyone else he looked perfectly fine, but the mere thought of looking feminine made him want to puke. Ramsay, on the other hand, looked gorgeous; maybe it was the set of new clothes doing the trick, maybe it was the genuine smile on his lips, but he somehow looked refreshed and less bitter.

"You're such a beautiful lady", he had told David with a grin.

"You look a little less like a lunatic", the boy had replied.

 

The wedding ceremony was beautiful in its way, but over quickly. David tensed up when Ramsay's lips met his own, despite being surprised how soft they felt. He was almost relieved when finally the two of them got to walk up to Ramsay's chambers, simply grateful he didn't have to keep playing the pretty little bride.

"It was about time I got to take this off", he said once he had closed the door behind himself, "damn, it's been a long time since I last wore a dress."

Ramsay watched him struggle a while in his attempt to open the laces of the dress before he stepped behind him, "let me help you."

 

David froze as he felt the man's fingers on his back. The laces quickly loosened and the dress fell from his shoulders.

"There", Ramsay said close to his ear, "done."

David felt a shiver running down his spine, "thank you, Ramsay."

And suddenly he felt lips nibbling on his neck. The boy winced and tried to duck away, but Ramsay grabbed his shoulders to keep him in place.

"Ramsay...?", he asked nervously, "what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?", he chuckled, warm breath hitting David's skin, "may I remind you that this is our wedding night, sweetling? We’re man and wife now, we should act like it."

 

David tried to move but found himself trapped in Ramsay's grip, "you... you said you were’t interested in me like that."

"That’s true. But I’m sure my father expects me to have an heir as soon as possible, and we wouldn't want to upset him, would we?"

David looked at the door, trying to figure out his chances of running. Before he was even able to find one coherent thought he was lifted off the ground and tossed onto the bed.

Ramsay kneeled down on the lower edge of the bed, slowly crawling over to him with a playful smile, "what's wrong? Are you scared?"

David couldn't do anything but look at him, eyes wide in terror, "no... n-no wait!"

 

The young Bolton hovered over him now, watching him carefully like a wolf ready to tear apart its prey, "don't worry. The two of us are going to have a lot of fun."

"No- Ramsay please!", David's voice cracked as his panic rose, "p-please don't... I'll do anything you want, but please don't do this!"

Ramsay tilted his head, his smile growing darker, "anything?"

David nodded quickly, tears of terror starting to form in his eyes, "I promise! Just... p-please don't hurt me..."

 

Suddenly the man rolled off of him and stretched out on the bed beside him, "tell me about the future."

David blinked in confusion, "t-the future... that's it?"

"Indeed. Hurry up before I change my mind about raping you. You may put on clothes first though, wouldn't want you to catch a cold."

 

Not needing to be told twice the boy stood up, reaching for his sleeping gown that had been placed at the bed's end earlier.

"So...", he asked nervously once he was dressed, "what exactly do you wish to know?"

Ramsay's eyes lit up with excitement, "tell me about the bright future that lies ahead of me!"

David stayed silent for a second, sitting down on the bed while avoiding his gaze, "there is no such thing as a bright future for you."

What?", Ramsay's face fell, "what do you mean? I'm heir to House Bolton!"

David bit his lip, "well, you  _ are  _ strong and smart. But you’ll make a lot of enemies and they’re just as strong, enough to overpower you. And they will get revenge for all the people you hurt."

 

Ramsay needed a moment to process his words. Then he exhaled slowly, "give me more details. Who is at fault for my death?"

"The bastard in black", David replied, "Jon Snow. Lord Baelish is going to hand Sansa Stark to your family... well, originally you were meant to marry her, but thanks to me that probably won't happen any longer. Anyway, instead of protecting her, you will do some cruel things to Sansa and once she escapes she and her brother will come for you and get their revenge. There will be a big war and it will end with you dead at the hands of the Starks."

He let out a sad sigh, "guess that's not how you imagined your future, huh?"

Ramsay shook his head, obviously lost in thoughts, "no. But you said I might not marry the Stark girl anymore. That means this is not going to happen, doesn't it?"

"I guess not, but there's still a possibility that she may end up here. I think in that case it would be better to treat her with respect. You wouldn't want to anger the Starks."

Ramsay looked at him in curiosity, "say, is there anything who would avenge you if I was to treat you badly?"

David gulped, "...no."

 

The young Bolton seemed to be pleased by that reply, "perfect. Well,  _ David _ . It seems there is no way you're leaving me anytime soon. From now on, consider yourself my right hand. You give me all the information I request in order to change my future and if you do a good job at that I might actually grand you a quite pleasant life."

"How thoughtful of you", David rolled his eyes, "so basically what you're saying is this; I keep you from dying and in exchange, you don’t torture me as badly as you could."

Ramsay grinned, "phrase it however you want, you don't have much of a choice anyway. But I need your mind intact so I can’t damage you too badly anyway."

"Great", David yawned and crawled underneath the bed's furs, "now, if you don't have any further questions for today, I'm going to sleep. Good night, Ramsay."

 

He turned away from the man, closing his eyes. The terror he had felt earlier had almost completely vanished as he waited for Ramsay to blow out the last lit candle in the room. It was only when the young Bolton's arms found their way around his torso to pull him closer that he tensed up again. He could almost hear the smirk in his voice as Ramsay lightly nibbled at his earlobe.

"One last thing, sweetling", he whispered, "if you should decide to misbehave in any way... there is nothing stopping me from hurting you. Good night."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramsay has a surprisingly pleasant gift for David. The new Bolton family member finally meets Myranda

David woke up in the middle of the night, panting. His heart beat heavily in his chest as he abruptly sat up, clutching the bedsheets.  
"That was just a dream", he whispered to himself, trying to calm down, his whole body trembling, "just a nightmare. I'm fine. Nothing can hurt me."  
He froze when he felt movement next to him, "...why are you awake kid?"  
"Nightmare...", David muttered, his voice cracking, "s-sorry if I woke you up."  
Ramsay let out a tired grunt, "just go back to sleep."  
"I'm trying..", the boy choked back a sob. He felt warm tears roll down his cheeks and quickly brushed them off with the back of his hand. A small whimper escaped his lips. How was he supposed to calm down when the worse nightmare was happening around him?

"Oh gods", Ramsay groaned, "stop crying already. Come here."  
He reached out, grabbing David's waist to pull him closer. The latter let out a surprised yelp as his head was held against a warm broad chest.  
"It was a dream, you're fine", Ramsay said in a tired voice, "now fucking sleep or I'll kick you out."  
David took a deep, shaky breath. For some reason, Ramsay's rhythmical heartbeat close to him mixed with his unusually soft voice had a soothing effect on him. He felt his eyelids growing heavy and shutting his eyes he slowly gave into the embrace and drifted off to sleep.

 

Surprisingly he was not haunted by any more nightmares that night. The next time he woke up, the sun had already risen. Ramsay was awake already, yet still had his arms wrapped around the boy. One of his hands was brushing through his short curls while the other gently stroked his side.  
"You're awake", he noticed in a low voice.  
David gave a small nod and yawned, "you too. How long have you been awake?"  
Ramsay played with a single strand of hair, twirling it between his fingers, "a while."  
David rubbed his eyes and looked up at him, "you know... you could have just woken me up."  
Ramsay grimaced, "I was glad you were fucking sleeping! Besides, watching you was fun", a sadistic glow appeared in his eyes, "you look so vulnerable when you're sleeping... completely at my mercy."  
"Wow”, David said, “until that statement you almost sounded like a normal person instead of a complete psychopath. But, uh…”, he gulped, “I wanted to apologising again, for- for waking you up during the night.”  
Ramsay rolled his eyes, “I can’t believe you cried because of a nightmare. How old are you, six?”  
“Sixteen, actually”, David pouted, “it’s not like I chose to have a nightmare.”

“Gods, I married a damned child”, Ramsay growled. He yawned and stretched a little, "time to get dressed. I'll have Reek bring up some food."  
Hesitantly David slipped out of the warm embrace and got up, "so... what are you doing today?"  
"Nothing in particular", he stretched out on the bed yet again, "I'll pay a visit to the hounds, maybe go on a little hunt. You know you don't have to follow me everywhere, right?"  
"Yeah", the boy wrapped a long bandage around his chest in an attempt to make it appear flat before putting on his clothes, "but I wouldn't know what else to do. Besides, I have to stop you from accidentally fucking up your future, don't I?"  
Ramsay raised an eyebrow and smirked, "what, are you even going to stay at my side when I fuck another woman?”  
“No!”, David grimaced in disgust as Ramsay laughed, “gross!”

 

After they had had a small breakfast the two of them headed to the kennels.  
"I hope you're going to feed them", David said, "please, for the love of every god I can possibly think of, feed the hounds."  
"Why do you keep insisting on that?", Ramsay huffed in annoyance, "they are supposed to be hungry."  
David glared at him, "what's more important to you? Chasing some whores through the woods and have your hounds tear them apart or staying alive and not being eaten by them?"  
Ramsay narrowed his eyes, "do you think I can't control my own hounds?"  
"'My hounds would never harm me'" the boy said, mimicking Ramsay's arrogant tone, "Ramsay, I don't question your ability to control them. But if you keep starving them at least know it's a horrible idea to brag about it in front of your enemies."  
Ramsay looked at the hounds around him, finally getting the point, "they'll kill me."

David nodded, "rather ungraceful death. Really, just feed them a little more and maybe show some affection and you should be safe."  
The man moved closer to him and began to pat his head, "good little dog. You're being a very loyal pet."  
David frowned, "...what are you doing?"  
Ramsay smirked, "I'm showing affection to my pet. That's what you told me to do."  
The boy felt his cheeks flush, "I'm not a dog!"  
"The way you’re running after me you might as well be one. Which reminds me...", he walked up to the kennels in the back, "I have yet to give you a little wedding present."

He opened the kennel door and grabbed the small grey-eyed puppy just to set it down again right in front of David. The boy knelt down and pet it, but looked up in confusion, "I don't think I quite understand Ramsay..."  
"He's yours", Ramsay closed the door again, "I'm selling the pups soon, but you may keep that one. Just care for him yourself."  
David's eyes lit up, "really? Thank you, Ramsay!", he hesitated a second, "you've been awfully nice to me so far. How do I know this isn't a trap? What are you planning?"  
"I'm planning nothing. All I want is your loyalty", the young Bolton looked down on him, suddenly very serious, "keep me alive, help me gain power. If you don't bore me and stay helpful, you may have nice things like this present. But if you ever betray me, you will suffer. If you ever get on my nerves or disobey me you will suffer as well. You’ve seen Reek, you know what I could do to you. Did I make myself clear enough?"  
David nodded quickly, feeling uneasy, "crystal clear."

"Good", the cheerful smile returned to Ramsay's face, "I hope you won't disappoint me. Now be a good little pet and find Reek for me, ask him to get some food for the hounds."  
The boy gave him a small smile and stood straight, "I'm on it!"  
He turned around and left the kennels, his new furry companion following right behind.

 

Theon almost fainted when the small hound jumped towards him. David had to pick up the puppy in order to get him off the terrified man.  
“He wasn’t trying to attack you, he’s just excited", David said apologetically, "I'll probably have to teach him not to jump up on people... anyway, Ramsay sent me to get some dog food!"  
Theon nodded, picking up a basket full of meat. Together the two of them started walking back to the kennels.

"Is that your dog?", Theon asked.  
"Yup!", the boy smiled, "Ramsay gave him to me as a present. Isn't he cute? You know, while I was looking for you I was thinking about how I should name the little guy. And I think I found the ideal name!"  
Theon's lips twitched into a small smile, "what is his name?"

David was about to reply when the dog suddenly jumped forward towards the kennels and began jumping up at Ramsay. The latter didn't notice though, being distracted by a brunette woman's lips pressed against his own. The couple seemed to completely ignore their surroundings as they continued to embrace each other.  
David stopped where he stood and watched in silence until the dog happily barked at them, finally drawing their attention. Ramsay let go of the girl and looked up.  
"I see you found Reek", he smiled, "David, may I introduce you to Myranda?"  
David stepped closer, narrowing his eyes, "oh, I've... heard of her already. I know a few things about her."  
Myranda grinned, "only good things, I hope."  
"Depends on who you ask. I think you wouldn’t like that information as much as I do.”

"I hope you're planning on telling me more later, David", Ramsay said with the hint of a threat audible in his voice.  
David glanced at him, pale eyes meeting blue ones, "maybe. I would hate to worry you though."  
Ramsay raised an eyebrow and pulled Myranda closer to himself, "watch out for your tone, kid. Now be a good boy and help Reek feed the hounds."

David did not move immediately, taking a second to just glare at him before he finally turned to Theon. The young Greyjoy looked like he may want to say something but apparently thought twice about it in Ramsay's presence.  
"Oh, Theon. I forgot to answer your question earlier", the boy gave him an innocent smile, "I named my puppy Ram. I liked the irony of giving that name to such an adorable little creature."  
Without another word he took the basket of meat right out of Theon's hands and stepped into the row of kennels.

 

When Theon and David were done, Ramsay walked over to them. Apparently, Myranda was gone, leaving him bored.  
"So?", he asked, "What do you think about my lady, David?"  
David sighed, "do you wanna hear the nice answer or the honest one?"  
"I prefer honesty."  
The boy turned around to him and crossed his arms, "first of all, I'm pretty sure you shouldn't call some common whore a 'lady'. Second of all; I never liked her ever since I got to know about her. Her death is fun though!"  
Ramsay smirked, "could it be you're just jealous of her?"  
"I'm not jealous", David wrinkled his nose in irritation, "why would I be? I have no romantic interest in you. And even if I had, you married me without thinking about her for even a second."  
"Well that's-", Ramsay angrily furrowed his brows, "there's no reason why I'd be a loyal husband."

A mocking grin spread on David's lips, "are you seriously trying to defend yourself? We both know you'll eventually kill that whore too."  
"Don't push your luck", Ramsay growled, "it's an awful idea to provoke me. So shut your mouth."  
The boy tilted his head, "make me, Ramsay Snow."  
"Take that back", the young Bolton snapped, "apologise. Right now."  
David felt Theon lightly tapping his shoulder, "it- it would be wise to do as he says, m'Lord..."  
David shrugged him off, glaring at Ramsay, "why are you so mad? It's not my fault you immediately abandon your 'lady' as soon as you smell the chance to become a real Bolton. And everyone knows you get rid of your bedwarmers sooner or later, including her. Why should I apologise for telling the truth, Snow?"

The air left David's lungs when Ramsay's knee landed a kick into his chest. Gritting his teeth he crashed to the ground.  
Ramsay looked down at him, "will you be a good boy now and apologise to me politely or do you need me to hurt you further?"  
David coughed, "no need to, I got the point."  
"Good. Get up", without giving the boy time to recover he grabbed his wrist and yanked him back to his feet.

"That was uncalled for", David muttered and rubbed his wrist, "still... I'm sorry."  
Ramsay tilted his head, "that's it? That apology was way too plain. Try again."  
David rolled his eyes, "I beg your pardon, Lord Bolton, for I talked without thinking. I will never do so again", he raised an eyebrow, "better?"  
"I'm satisfied... for now", Ramsay ruffled his hair, "don't do that again. I'm heading to the woods now to practise archery a little. I assume you want to come along?"  
"Can I count on you not 'accidentally' shooting me?"  
His usual mocking smirk returned to Ramsay's face, "if you behave, maybe."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newly married couple spends some quality time together. David stands up for Theon without thinking about possible consequences

David loved the woods. He had always enjoyed nature but he had never seen a place more beautiful than the Northern Westerosi woods. Ramsay led the way, tossing his longbow from one hand to the other.

"David", he said slowly, "did you ever learn how to shoot?"

"No", the boy replied, still looking around, "I never needed to. But I always wanted to try archery."

Ramsay stopped walking, "today's your lucky day then. I'll teach you."

"Really?", David hesitated, "...why?"

"So I can take you along for hunting. Go on, take the bow."

David did as he was told and frowned, "it might be a little too heavy for me."

"It will do for now. Let's start with the stance; position yourself in a way you think is suitable for shooting."

 

The boy held up the bow in front of him, moving his feet a little to what seemed to him like a good pose while Ramsay walked around him, watching his movements.

"That's good but not quite it yet", he said, stepping closer, "straighten your back more. And raise the bow a little."

"I can't", David huffed, "I told you, it's too heavy."

"Pull yourself together!", the young Bolton stepped right behind him, "if you want to call yourself a man so badly then act like one! Where's your strength? Stay still."

He put his hands over David's, guiding him, "here we go. Now look for a target, a tree or something. Focus, aim and shoot."

David focused on a rather large tree nearby, concentrating fully on his chosen target and shot. To his surprise, he only missed it for a few inches.

"That was good. Very good", Ramsay handed him another arrow before getting back into his stance, "try again."

  
  


David couldn't have said how much time passed before they left the woods. Time did not seem relevant as he continued his archery practice, slowly beginning to enjoy it. Ramsay made him repeat every shot he missed, telling him what to improve and ruffled his hair every time he actually hit his target. David was quite impressed when the young Bolton took the bow himself and shot a bird straight out of the air. In the end, his arms hurt from the effort of holding the bow. Nevertheless, he was almost disappointed when Ramsay declared they would head back.

 

As they walked Ramsay suddenly grabbed his hand, "why is your wrist bruised? When did that happen?"

Confused David looked at his wrist, "hm? I didn’t notice it was. Must have happened when you grabbed me earlier."

"I barely even touched you!"

"Well... I have pretty sensitive skin", he shrugged, "I always bruise easily. I'm used to it."

"A bruise like this from barely a touch, huh?", Ramsay let out a dark chuckle, "interesting... now I’m curious to see how badly you bruise from an actual injury.”

  
  


The rest of the day went by rather uneventfully. Ramsay immediately went looking for Myranda as soon as they got back and David decided to simply avoid them so he wouldn't insult her accidentally or less accidentally. He only crossed paths with Ramsay again in the evening when he was just about to leave their shared chambers.

"Where do you think you're going?", Ramsay grabbed him and closed the door before he could leave.

"Down to the kennels", David replied, "I'm spending the night there again."

"Why?", Ramsay did not seem too pleased about that, "the bed is more comfortable. If I didn't know better I'd believe you're planning to cheat on me."

"So it's okay for you to introduce me to your affair but I can't get near a guy who doesn't even have a dick?", David raised an eyebrow, "doesn't seem too fair to me. And it almost makes you sound like you’re jealous.”

"Would you prefer me to just pin you down and rape you every night?", he tilted his head, "or is it the other way around? Are you sleeping in the kennels because you are scared of me?"

David gulped, "I just... like dogs more than people", he pressed his fur blankets closer to his chest, avoiding Ramsay's gaze, "I prefer predictable creatures like hounds over the unpredictability of humans. At least a dog warns you before it attacks.”

Ramsay smirked, "so you  _ are _ scared."

 

"Yes, I am", David lowered his head, "I have all reason to be and we both know that. You wouldn't hesitate to hurt me, you said so yourself. Can I please go to the kennels now?"

"Fine", the man sighed, "make sure to take enough furs with you."

David looked at him suspiciously, "are you worried I'll catch a cold now?"

"No", Ramsay's smirk widened, "I'm worried about  _ my _ health. We are married, don't you think we should sleep together? So if you insist on changing your sleeping place, I'll come with you."

David pretended like he wasn't freaking out internally, "alright. Suit yourself."

  
  


Poor Theon looked like he was about to cry when he saw Ramsay approaching the kennels.

"Don't worry, Theon", David said gently and sat down, "he's not here to mock you. He's trying to mock me."

Ramsay made himself comfortable in the furs, "I may just connect both."

David sighed. He called for his dog and the puppy jumped up to him with a bark.

"Hi, Ram", he smiled and pet the dog, "how's my good boy doing?"

The Bolton heir raised an eyebrow, "that was no joke? You named your dog after me?"

"Yeah", the boy pulled the puppy onto his lap, "he has such big pale eyes, reminded me of you."

Ramsay just stared at him in silence for a second, "that's... sweet, actually.”

"Sweet enough for you to not tease me?"

 

"No", he grinned, "while we're at that topic, get over here. I want you to sit on my lap."

David blinked, "you... what?"

"You heard me. Move."

Slowly he shoved the puppy off of himself and moved over to his husband, "why do I have to- woah!"

 

He let out a yelp when Ramsay pulled him into his lap in one swift move and wrapped his arms around him, "you weren’t quick enough.”

He leaned forward and began nibbling at David's neck while looking over at Theon, "Reek, look. Do you recall how long it's been since you've last been this close to a woman?"

Theon stared at them, not sure if he was supposed to respond.

"Poor Reek", Ramsay muttered, burying his teeth in David's pale skin, "you'll never be able to experience the pleasure of being with a woman again."

 

"Stop mocking him", David glared at him, "he's not even doing anything, leave him alone!"

"You make it sound like I need a reason to mess with him", Ramsay rolled his eyes, "fine. If you want me to stop harming him with words, I'll just do it physically."

"No!", Ramsay tried to push him away to get up but David grabbed his shoulders to keep him in place, "don't hurt him, please!"

"I can't help it, sweetling", Ramsay shot him an innocent look and the boy was surprised by how authentic it looked, "sometimes I just have this urge to hurt people. And Reek simply happens to be around whenever that happens."

"I'm around now too", David said without thinking twice, "hurt me instead. Theon is broken enough as he is."

In mere seconds those pale innocent eyes filled with sadistic glee, "as you wish, Little Lord."

 

He leaned in to bite David's neck, this time with more force. David let out a surprised whimper as teeth scraped his skin. Other than the first bite, this one lacked any bit of restraint or playfulness and instead was nothing but painful. Yet somehow this made David less uncomfortable than the gentle nibbling. It reassured him at least that Ramsay’s goal was to inflict physical pain, not psychological one.

"Wow", the man whispered after a while, admiring his work, "you didn't lie about your delicate skin. That mark looks great on you."

David touched his bruised neck and winced slightly, "are you done?"

Ramsay nodded and pat his head, "you've been a good boy", he tilted his head and looked over at Theon again, "Reek! Won't you be good too and thank David for saving your sorry ass from pain?"

Theon trembled under his gaze and focused on the ground, "R-Reek is very thankful, m'lord. I don't deserve this kindness."

 

David let out a sigh, "Theon… if I wasn’t so sure that would make you freak out entirely I’d give you a hug right now.”

He yawned, "I'm getting tired, Ramsay. Can you please let me go so I can lay down and go to sleep?"

There was a disappointed look in the man's eyes, but he let go anyway. David settled down a little away from him and called his dog over, which immediately cuddled up to him. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Theon trembling and turned to him, "are you cold? You can have one of my furs if you want to."

"It's going to be a chilly night", Ramsay said before Theon was able to reply, "you'll need it for yourself."

"I'll be fine", David tossed one of the furs over to Theon, "there's no point in letting Theon freeze when there are enough furs laying around."

 

A few minutes later David regretted his decision as he curled up into a shaking mess in the cold of the night. He gritted his teeth to stop them from chattering and pulled his puppy closer, "...I didn't think it would be  _ this _ cold."

Ramsay chuckled, "I told you."

When David let out a whine he spread his arms, "you can come over here and  share my blankets any time, you know?"

 

David hesitated. Ramsay didn't make nice offers without any selfish thought behind it. Still, being able to cuddle up to his warm chest seemed like a better option than freezing the entire night. Slowly he crawled closer, allowing Ramsay to wrap his arms around him.

"Thank you", he muttered and rested his head on the man's shoulder, "good night."

Ramsay pressed his lips onto the boy’s forehead in a surprisingly soft gesture, "sweet dreams, Little Lord."


	5. Chapter 5

David was woken up by Ramsay's comforting body warmth suddenly leaving him. He let out a protesting whine and opened his eyes, "where are you going?"

Ramsay stretched, "I'm getting myself some food, I'm hungry."

"Wait for me!", David struggled to his feet. A stinging ache shot through his back, "Oww..."

"What's wrong?"

David frowned, "my back hurts... I guess sleeping on the hard floor was not the best idea.”

"Oh no", Ramsay's voice was filled with fake sympathy, "seems like you should sleep in a bed after all. We don't want you to be in pain, do we?"

"No", the boy growled, "well... fine. I'm sleeping in the chambers. But only under one condition."

"Who gave you the right to make conditions?"

"I did", David stretched, trying to ease the sting in his back, "I promise, it's a very simple request. All I want is for you to let Theon keep some of the furs so he doesn't freeze staying out here."

Ramsay shot him a confused look, "why should I care about him?"

 

David crossed his arms, "I doubt you'll like him much when he's frozen to death."

"... You got a point", the young Bolton sighed, "alright. But you really need to stop being so nice to him, it's driving me crazy."

"I just don't see a point in treating him poorly."

"He doesn't deserve a better treatment", Ramsay moved closer and touched his husband's bruised neck, "it makes me incredibly  _ mad _ to see you being nice to him. You are aware who I'm going to hurt from now on if I am mad, aren't you?"

David gulped, "yeah..."

"Good", he squeezed the boy's neck slightly before letting him go, "then let's get breakfast."

  
  


David was glad to notice there was nobody else in the hall as they ate. He was aware that people tended to give him strange looks because of his clothes. He was also aware that Ramsay was the only reason nobody dared to address the topic around him. In fact, no one dared to talk to him in first place as long as Ramsay was in sight.

David was beginning to relax when suddenly someone stepped into the hall. His mood immediately dropped as Myranda walked over to them to kiss Ramsay's cheek, "good morning, my lord~"

Ramsay smiled up at her, "good morning."

"I hope one of you chokes on their breakfast", David muttered.

 

Myranda looked over at him, "did you say anything?"

The boy faked a smile, "nothing you need to worry your pretty head about."

"Is there any problem, David?"

David did not so much as look at Ramsay, "not at all. Just ignore me."

The young Bolton smirked, "is it Myranda showing affection to me that's bugging you?"

David shrugged, "happy couples usually make me want to puke. I hate public displays of affection."

Ramsay's smirk turned into a cocky grin, "get over here."

David frowned, "why? I haven't finished my meal yet."

"Just do as you're told without asking unnecessary questions."

 

Slowly the boy rose from his seat and walked around the table. Ramsay grabbed his waist and pulled him onto his lap. He placed a kiss on his forehead, ruffling his hair.

"What are you doing?", David asked confused.

"You said you dislike affection", Ramsay continued to smirk, “so I decided to give you some.”

David couldn't help but chuckle, "I think you got something wrong there. This is honestly the most absurd way of mocking me you came up with so far."

For a moment he felt almost comfortable on Ramsay's lap until he noticed Myranda glaring at them in rage.

 

"What?", he asked, looking at her, "am I sitting in your place? Don't be mad at me, I didn't choose to."

"I'm not mad", she snapped, obviously mad.

David rolled his eyes, "Ramsay, can I sit back down on my chair now? I think  _ someone _ wants your attention more than I do."

He quickly got up and went back to eating while Ramsay turned his attention to Myranda.

  
  


This was the day David decided he truly hated Myranda. He was not jealous, not at all. He was simply annoyed because without Ramsay around he got bored very easily. Theon was nice company, but he was too anxious to speak much and his new puppy was still young and therefore slept most of the time. In the end, he decided to spend his time walking around and getting to know his new home better.

While he got lost in his thoughts he finally accepted the fact that everything happening around him was not a dream. He didn't know how he got here or how it was possible, to begin with, but everything that happened so far felt too real to be a dream. Surely a dream couldn’t hurt that bad, could it? He would have to accept the fact that he was trapped in Westeros, not knowing any way home.

When Ramsay finally came looking for him it was already time for dinner.

 

"Listen, you can do whatever you want to with Myranda or really  _ anyone _ ", he told him, "but I get bored without you Ramsay. So, whatever you're doing all day, be quicker about it."

Ramsay laughed, then yanked at his hair, "I appreciate the fact that you miss me, but I do whatever I want and whenever I want."

David was tired by the time the two of them went to their chambers. Without hesitation or complaint the boy changed into his sleeping clothes and curled up on the bed. Ramsay laid down next to him. Only when he put an arm around his waist was David able to drift off into sleep.

  
  


David slowly but surely started to wish for a more sound sleep as he was yet again woken up by Ramsay moving next to him. Reluctantly he opened his eyes to scan the pitch black room, "Ramsay...? The sun's not up yet, where are you going?"

"Intruders", Ramsay mumbled while putting on breeches, "someone got into the castle. I'll go check it out", he touched the boy's shoulder, "don't leave the room until I get back, that's an order. Just go back to sleep."

David's eyes got used to the darkness, letting him have just a small glance at Ramsay before he disappeared into the hallway. He closed his eyes again, willing to go back to sleep. Yet after a few minutes, he gave up, coming to the realisation that he was wide awake and not anywhere near as tired as he had been before. He hated to admit it, but it made him feel uneasy not to know where Ramsay was, making him unable to sleep.

"Screw you, Bolton", he grumbled as he got up, looking for his clothes, "you won't even notice I left the room."

 

Slowly, careful not to make the slightest sound, he sneaked out of the chamber. The halls were dark, scarcely illuminated by torches. The shallow sound of a fight reached his ears, seeming to come from somewhere out in the yard. David wanted to get closer and see what was happening but he was slowly getting scared. Still, curiosity kept chewing at him so he kept walking until he was outside, looking right over to the kennels. He ducked behind a stone wall, squinting his eyes to see what was going on in the dark.

Suddenly there were footsteps behind him and as he turned around someone grabbed him by his hair and yanked him to his feet. As he let out a panicked scream, the stranger pressed a hand on his mouth and silenced him, "make one more noise and I will not hesitate to cut your throat."

David froze. It had been a while since he'd last heard that voice, and never in person, but he definitely remembered it. Slowly he looked up, meeting the gaze of Yara Greyjoy.

 

"I'll take my hand off your mouth now", she said slowly, "you will answer my questions. Don't even try to scream."

David gulped when the grip around his jaw loosened, "who are you?"

"David", he whispered shakily, "...David Bolton."

"A Bolton?", Yara smirked, "perfect. Fucking perfect. You're coming with me."

"What? N-no!", the boy tried to wiggle out of her grip, inhaling deeply, "RAM-"

Yara stopped him mid-scream by forcefully slamming his head against the wall, "what did I just tell you?! Stupid brat."

David felt the back of his head throbbing in pain before his mind went numb. The last thing he recalled before losing consciousness was himself quietly mumbling Ramsay's name.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David learns that being kidnapped is not a lot of fun. Ramsay is very mad

"If you don’t wake up anytime soon I’ll drown you", David's head throbbed when he woke up again. He opened his eyes and looked around, panicking, "...where am I?"

"You don't need to know those details", Yara Greyjoy leaned over him, "the only thing you need to know is that you're far away from home."

David sat up and immediately regretted it when his headache got worse. His eyes needed a while to adjust to his surroundings; he was laying on the floor of what seemed to be a small room with stone walls, the only light coming from a torch outside of the open door, "why... why did you kidnap me? I didn't even do anything!"

The woman growled, "I didn't plan on taking you with me, I was there to get my brother. You just happened to cross my way and I had to adapt."

"Theon refused to leave with you, huh?", the boy frowned, "I knew that would happen. But what do _ I _ have to do with that?"

"You're a Bolton", Yara studied him, "the bastard took my family, so I'm taking his."

David had to stop himself from bursting into laughter, "sorry to disappoint you my lady, but I doubt Ramsay will care in any way."

 

Yara didn't seem pleased with his answer, "what are you talking about?"

"Well, Ramsay is my husband", he shrugged, "but that doesn't mean he necessarily cares about me. He probably views me more like property than like an actual person. If anything, his  _ ego _ will be hurt when he notices I’m gone."

"Even just making him angry would be a great success", the Greyjoy woman said. She thought for a moment, "tell me, how much would his ego be hurt if you ended up in a similar state as Theon?"

David felt a shiver running down his spine, "well, I... he wouldn’t be pleased to say at least."

Yara flashed a dangerous grin, "I'd love to wipe that damned smirk off his face."

David simply stared at her, slowly shaking his head, "but you- you wouldn't do things like that. You're better than Ramsay, you're not that cruel. You wouldn't just hurt me for no reason... right?"

"Believe me kid, I would. My brother's life is worth more than the life of some bastard's wife", she got up, "I'll wait and see if he’ll make an attempt to find you. If what you say is true and he doesn't care, you're free to go. But if he tries to get you back... I won’t hand you over entirely unharmed.”

  
  


David was left to himself in the small room. He didn't know how much time was passing because it was always dark. The room didn’t have any windows either, so he could not tell whether it was night or day outside. The door only opened once in his time there when a guard brought him a small piece of bread and a little bit of water. With nothing else to do, he spent a lot of time thinking, mostly about Ramsay. A tiny part of him hoped he would come and get him but in general, he had given up on that. He would have never thought that he'd actually miss Ramsay.

Eventually, the door opened once again and Yara Greyjoy stepped into the room, "alright kid. I have some good and bad news for you."

David slowly raised his head, squinting his eyes against the little bit of light illuminating his cell, "I'd prefer to hear the good news first."

"Well, the Bolton bastard seems to care about you after all. My men reported having seen Bolton banners not far from here."

The boy gulped, "...´then what are the bad news?"

 

She stepped aside and a man entered the room. David could barely register his movement before the stranger grabbed him by his hair and slammed his head down against the floor. A sickening cracking sound echoed through the room as his nose hit the cold stone as an even more sickening sting of pain rushed over him.

Yara turned on her heel and left, the door swinging shut behind her. David raised his head to look at the man in front of him.

What followed were kicks in his ribcage, stomping on his fingers, punches, hits, pain and more pain. Soon his body ached all over and he couldn't even tell anymore where exactly he was or wasn’t hurt. The boy curled up and closed his eyes, waiting and praying for it to simply stop.

And then he heard the voice. The tone of pure, barely contained rage would have made him freak out under different circumstances. But now it brought a relieved smile to his face, 

"where is he? Stop fucking around Greyjoy and return him to me!"

 

He could hear Yara's reply from the other side of the door, "he? Don’t tell me you actually believe your little wife is a boy. Or maybe you married her so you can pretend you’re sharing your bed with another man? Fine, I'll give  _ him _ back to you, but only in exchange for my brother. I don't see Theon anywhere."

Ramsay's voice seemed to almost shake with fury, "you let me see my boy. I'll let you see yours. We hand them over. I leave. Deal?"

"Deal."

The door was opened. The man who had been hurting him previously lifted David up and dragged him out of the room. Ramsay's pale gaze met his hazy blue one. A single tear rolled down David's cheek.

"There he is", Yara said, "hand over my brother."

One of Ramsay's men stepped closer, pushing Theon in front of him. The young Greyjoy was shaking more than usual, his skin covered in blood and bruises.

 

"Theon!", David's voice cracked as he glared up at Ramsay, "what did you do to him?! You said you wouldn't hurt him again!"

A twisted smile formed on the Bolton heir's face, "you weren't there for me to hurt you, and I was  _ very _ mad."

"Keep the talking for later", Yara pushed David towards him, "now give me my brother and get lost before I change my mind."

Ramsay grabbed David's wrist and pulled him along, "Reek, you know what to do. Now go to your sister."

Theon limped over to Yara and the Bolton men hurried outside quickly. David looked around- apparently he had been kept in what looked like the ruins of a small old keep next to a river- which one of Westeros’ many rivers he couldn’t tell. Ramsay dragged him onto a small ship but instead of giving a command to leave, he waited.

"Why aren't we moving?", Davis asked nervously.

Ramsay didn't so much as look at him, "wait and see."

 

A few moments later Theon came running outside. Without looking back once he jumped on board and immediately broke down. As soon as he was on the ship they started sailing.

Ramsay pet Theon's head as the other tried to catch his breath, "good boy, Reek. You did very well. For being such a loyal pet I will grant you two full days free of tasks and a small warm meal", he looked over at David and his face hardened, "now on to you."

David lowered his gaze and slowly sank to his knees, "I-I'm sorry..."

"That apology is not worth anything if you don't look me in the eye", Ramsay grabbed his hair and forced him to look up, "didn't I  _ explicitly _ tell you to stay in your room?"

"I'm sorry!", he whimpered again, tears running freely down his cheeks, "I- I really am! I was just curious a-and I couldn't sleep... I didn't mean for all of this to happen!"

The young Bolton pulled at his hair, "how could you be so fucking stupid?!"

David yelped, "s-s-sorry..."

 

Ramsay abruptly let go of him, "I will find a suitable punishment for your actions once we're back home. For now, go help Reek tend to his wounds, he looks like he’s going to faint.”

David nodded and slowly crawled over to Theon, "how are you feeling...?"

"Dead", the man muttered through grit teeth, "or as good as dead. ... everything hurts."

The boy carefully placed a hand on his shoulder, "Theon, I'm so sorry... can I.. can I hug you? Because I really need a hug right now and I'm sure you do too."

Theon hesitated, then nodded. David gently wrapped his arms around the thin frame of his body and felt Theon's head settling down on his shoulder. A soft whimper escaped his throat before he violently started sobbing.

 

It took David a few minutes to calm down again. He found a small rag, wet it and began to clean Theon off of the blood. The young Greyjoy winced whenever he touched one of the countless scabs on his body; the poor man was suffering from a swollen black eye, a few of his teeth were broken or missing and dark bruises covered his arms. There was a semi-large wound on his abdomen that looked suspiciously like he’d been attacked with a knife. He found a somewhat clean piece of fabric to wrap around it in order to stop it from bleeding.

"I'm done", David finally whispered and guided him down to rest his head in the boy's lap, "you should sleep a little. Remember, there's a meal waiting for you at home."

 

It did not take long for Theon to fall asleep. David gently stroked his hair as Ramsay walked over to them, "you cleaned  _ him _ up but not yourself?"

"His well-being was more important for now", David avoided eye contact, "may... may I ask a question? Why did you even come to get me?"

Ramsay shrugged and sat down next to him, "you predicted this was going to happen so that means you weren’t lying about knowing the future. And I certainly can’t let you wander off with all that useful knowledge you provide me with, can I?”

"I see...", the boy muttered, "well... I wouldn’t have expected you to show up at all."

"I can't believe you were this stupid", the Bolton heir shook his head, "I should just chain you to the bed to make sure you actually stay there."

"I am truly sorry Ramsay", the boy finally looked up at him, "I promise, I won't act against your orders ever again."

"I hope you’ll stay true to your words. Otherwise, you're going to regret it deeply."

  
  


Once they arrived David felt a wave of exhaustion running over him. He dragged himself to their chambers, curled up on the bed and waited for Ramsay, who was instructing some servant to prepare a warm bath.

"There was about one good thing about this whole journey", he said as he started to undress, "I got to spill some blood on the way.”

David raised his head slightly, looking at the other’s nude back, "uh... do you want me to leave the room while you take your bath..? To, you know, have some privacy."

Ramsay shook his head and stepped into the wooden bathtub, "there is no need for you to leave."

"Are you sure?", the boy got up and walked towards the door, "you know what, I'll go anyway in case you change your mind, so-"

"David, come here."

 

Slowly he turned on his heel and walked over to the tub, "...why?"

Ramsay looked up at him and shot him a serious look, "I want you to undress and join me."

David blinked, taking a second to process his words, "...what? Wait, you- you mean we should take a bath together? In that small tub?? Naked?!"

Ramsay rolled his eyes and let out an impatient sigh, "stop babbling and just do as you're told."

 

Hesitantly David started to strip off his clothes. He could practically feel Ramsay's gaze on his every movement and bit his lip in discomfort.

"Good", the young Bolton said once he was done, "now get in, just sit on my lap- oh stop looking at me like that, I’m not going to do anything to you!"

David realised he had started shaking. Taking a deep breath he climbed into the tub, careful to sit as far on the opposite side of Ramsay as possible in the small space. He hissed when the warm water touched his bruised skin, but got used to it quickly.

"Now, that wasn't that hard to do, was it?", Ramsay picked up a wet cloth sitting on the side of the tub, "stay still."

 

He brought the cloth up to David's face and began to clean off the now dried blood in a surprisingly gentle manner, "you're looking better already, your injuries don’t seem to be too bad. Your nose is broken though, might leave a crook or scar."

David frowned at him, "you... only got me in here with you so I could get clean?"

Ramsay raised an eyebrow, "that's what bathtubs are for. You looked fucking gross."

"But... you were mad at me! How can you suddenly be so calm? Wait... you're just playing nice again!”, David’s frown deepened, “you want me to feel safe and then you’ll turn your personality round completely and hurt me. Aren’t you?”

"No!", Ramsay sighed, "I  _ am _ going to punish you for being stupid enough to let yourself get kidnapped. But that can wait until later. First I have to get rid of those  _ bruises _ somehow", he gritted his teeth in disgust, "I hate it when other people touch my belongings when I should be the one hurting you."

David shifted slightly, "it's not like I get hurt on purpose..."

 

Ramsay ran the cloth over a sickening dark bruise below his ribs, "you got yourself into that situation. That makes it your fault."

The boy winced as the cloth pressed down a little too rough on his damaged skin, "ow! Didn't you just say you want get  _ rid  _ of those bruises? That's only going to make them worse!"

The young Bolton flashed him a smirk, "maybe instead of letting them heal I could just cover them with my own marks. Move a little closer.”

David did as he was told, leaning forward enough for their noses to almost touch. Imediately Ramsay lowered his head, forcefully biting down on his collarbone. David gritted his teeth at the pain but remained silent. Suddenly the room door swung open, "Ramsay, I've been told you're back ho- oh."

 

Ramsay let out an annoyed groan and looked up, "bad timing Myranda. Very bad timing."

The woman crossed her arms and let her gaze fly over the two of them, "you said you'd come to see me as soon as you're back."

He rolled his eyes, "as you can see I'm busy. I'll visit you later.”

David subconsciously moved closer to Ramsay in an attempt to shield himself from Myranda's eyes, "could you maybe take this argument elsewhere? I doubt this is the right time and place for a discussion.”

"Myranda, sweetling, leave", the young Bolton flashed her a somewhat apologetic smile, "I will come to your chamber later, I promise."

Myranda still looked rather displeased by the situation at hand, "fine. I'll be waiting for you."

She turned around and left the room.

 

"Wow", David let out a nervous chuckle, "that was... awkward."

"She's so clingy", Ramsay huffed, "walking in here like she has any sort of right to do so without my permission. Anyway", he let out a long sigh, "I think you're clean enough now. Help me wash my hair, would you?"

Ramsay quickly wet his hair and David ran a hand through the brown curls before he began washing them. The heir of House Bolton looked unusually peaceful at this moment. His eyes were shut, his features relaxed, looking soft without the usual anger written on them. He looked somehow younger, almost vulnerable. 

David took a moment to admire his pale skin. His own skin had barely any colour either, but Ramsay's was white as Winterfell's snow, making him look almost inhuman, like his body was carved from marble. For a mere second, David imagined how that perfect porcelain skin would look like covered in similar bruises and bites as his own. Then Ramsay opened his piercing colourless eyes and the image was gone from his mind, "you've grown quiet."

David nodded absently, "I figured if I don't say anything at all, I can't say anything stupid."

"You clever little beast."

 

David smiled slightly. He was beginning to feel surprisingly calm given the fact he was sharing a bath with Ramsay Bolton. Maybe it was the fact Ramsay did not touch him in any uncomfortable way, maybe he was just too exhausted from the day’s events to care any more.

As he yawned Ramsay chuckled, “tired?”

The boy nodded, rubbing his eyes, “getting beat up is a  _ little  _ exhausting. Can we go to sleep now?”

“Yeah”, Ramsay smirked, “under the condition that you’ll cause no more trouble tonight.”

David chuckled, “I’ll try.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Myranda is not very happy to see David back at home. Ramsay decides it's time for a little punishment

David was so tired he fell asleep as soon as he lay down. After all the events of that day, the soft comfort of the bed was too inviting to resist the urge to just curl up and doze off. He was not sure how long he slept, but when he woke up the sun was just starting to rise. The night before Ramsay had left to visit Myranda but now he was laying next to him, still fast asleep.

It was incredible how innocent he could look when he wasn't planning to torture anyone. In another life, before he woke up in Westeros, he had been in love with an expression similar to this one. But now whenever he got to see that expression he had to remind himself of the cruel and violent nature hidden underneath.

"I hate your face", he whispered, "it makes me feel way too save around you."

A frown crossed Ramsay's face and he slowly opened his eyes, "...'d you say something?"

"Nothing", David gave him a sad smile, "nothing of importance."

Ramsay let out a yawn, "mornin'..."

"Morning", the boy sat up and felt his stomach growl, "man, I'm hungry. Can we go and get some food?"

The young Bolton rubbed his eyes, "we'll get up in five minutes. Damn you, I'm still half asleep."

  
  
  


Later that day David decided to visit Theon in the kennels, as Ramsay was busy attending one of his father's meetings. Theon seemed to enjoy his day off, even though he was obviously worried that his reward might have been a big joke after all and that he’d eventually be punished.

"How are you?", David asked, "do you need me to check on your wounds?"

Theon shook his head, "I'm better already. Could be healing faster... but it's also not that bad anymore."

"How was your meal? You had that yet?"

The young Greyjoy gave a small smile, "delicious. I had cooked meat and a bit of fruit... even a slice of fresh bread."

David grinned, "I'm glad you got to enjoy yourself a little. You have a pretty smile, you know?"

Theon hesitated, "...Ramsay wouldn't like to hear how nice you're being to me."

"Oh, screw Ramsay!", the boy said, "you deserve kindness. Besides...", he winked at him, "he doesn't need to know."

 

Eventually, David got his dog out of the kennel in an attempt to train him a little. However, the small hound was more interested in playing than training and ended up jumping at him to lick his face.

"Ram!", he giggled, "I'm not dog food! Sit down.  _ Down _ . Down!"

That actually made Theon, who had been watching his failed attempts, laugh a little. It was a nice change to see the broken man happy for once. All of sudden there were footsteps at the entrance of the kennels. A very angry looking Myranda stalked towards the two, "you! I was looking for you."

"Me?", David looked up at her, "what do you want?"

She loomed over him, crossing her arms and hissed, "stay away from Ramsay, hear me? Stop manipulating him."

"Stay away?", David raised an eyebrow, "how am I supposed to stay away from him when we're married? Besides, I'm not manipulating anyone!"

 

"Yes you are", Myranda glared at him, "ever since you came here he keeps ignoring me to be around you. He would  _ never _ do that if you didn't somehow brainwash him."

The boy huffed in annoyance, "you blame me because your dear Ramsay doesn't wanna spend time with you anymore? Have you ever thought about the possibility that  _ you _ might be the issue? You're constantly jealous, so maybe he's just getting bored of you?"

"I am  _ not _ jealous!", Myranda growled, "as if I'd be jealous of you. Do you think you're better than me just because you're some highborn brat?"

"No", David said slowly as he flashed a cold smile, "I think I'm better than you because I am a  _ Bolton _ ."

The girl's face fell. Her eyes expressed a mix between hurt and wanting to murder David.

"He'll get rid of you sooner or later", she said through grit teeth, "and if  _ he _ doesn't, I will."

"I don't think so", David pointed at Theon, "it's more likely that my friend over there will get rid of  _ you _ before you even manage to get close to me. And he doesn't even need to try."

Myranda pressed her lips together in rage. Without another word, she ran off.

  
  
  


"David, I've been thinking", Ramsay said at the dining table while skinning an apple.

"Congratulations", David replied, "I wasn't aware you were able to do so."

"You better slow down that attitude and listen, sweetling, this is about you", he put the knife down and looked up, "you're a man, right? And a man should be able to defend himself."

David watched him cautiously, "defend against what?"

Ramsay smirked, "people like Yara Greyjoy. We don't want to repeat what happened with her, do we?"

The boy hesitantly shook his head, "no... so, what's your point?"

The young Bolton sighed and leaned back in his chair, "I want you to be able to protect yourself. Which is why I have a present for you."

 

He drew a dagger from pocket in his vest and set it down on the table in front of David, who took it and turned it in his hands to examine it.

The blade was beautiful, plain but polished iron, sharp enough to cut skin like butter. The hilt was made of dark wood, engraved with a hound's head.

"This is... incredibly beautiful", a smile crossed his lips, "thank you, Ramsay."

The bastard's smirk grew wider, "there is just one condition for you to keep that dagger."

Instantly the boy's face fell, "and what would that be...?"

"Can't you tell? You disobeyed my orders and I have yet to punish you for it", the man's pale eyes lit up with amusement, "you can keep it after I used it on you."

David gulped, "well... I'll just assume that if you plan to give me the dagger later you won't hurt me too bad? Which I'm really thankful for."

Ramsay flashed a satisfied smile, "wise of you to appreciate my kindness."

  
  
  


After dinner, Ramsay wasted no time in dragging the boy back to their shared chambers.

"I need you to strip", he said, "clothing is expensive and I might cut too deep if I don't see what I'm doing."

With growing tension, David began to undress until his torso was completely nude. Instinctively, he crossed his arms in front of his chest to cover himself.

Ramsay sighed happily, "what a beautiful sight. Go over to the bed and lay down on your stomach."

Hesitantly David did as he was told, "you... you're not going to cut too deep, right?"

 

"Deep enough to draw blood, shallow enough to not leave lasting damage", the bedsheets shifted as Ramsay sat down next to him, "not that I'd mind."

David wasn't mentally prepared when the blade met his skin. He let out a muffled scream as it cut through it and made its way from his shoulder downwards. He whined and dug his nails into the soft furs on the bed below him, "... that hurts."

Ramsay chuckled lowly, "of course it does. It's supposed to, sweetling."

The boy gritted his teeth when the dagger cut into his back again, trying hard not to make any sound.

"You're doing very well", Ramsay said in a voice sweeter than honey, "good boy. This looks great... the scars are going to be beautiful."

 

David tensed up, "when I asked you said you wouldn't cut so deep!"

"Well", the blade made an extra hurtful cut, "you forgot to ask if I'm a liar."

The boy could have slapped himself for yet again trusting Ramsay and forgetting about his sadistic nature.

"If you think this has a happy ending", he muttered to himself, burying his face in the pillows, "you haven't been paying attention."

The Bastard of Bolton chuckled at his words, "I couldn't have said it any better."

Finally, after a few more cuts, he put the dagger aside, "I'm done, Little Lord. I hope you understand now that you should never disobey me again."

Gingerly David sat up and nodded, "didn't plan on getting kidnapped again any time soon."

Ramsay kissed his forehead in an almost loving gesture, "would you like to know what I wrote on your back?"

"Wrote?", the boy backed away slightly, "y-you carved letters into my skin?"

"I did. Come here, I'll trace it for you."

 

He pulled David closer and began to move his fingers across the fresh cuts in a slow pace, making sure to cause some more discomfort and pain, "I will spell it out for you, so you can guess the word, okay? See, those scars right here form an 'R'. Then over here is an 'A', then an 'M'..."

David froze. He should have known something like this would happen. He didn't want to hear the rest of it out loud, but he did not dare to disrupt the man's gruesome joy.

"S-A-Y", the Bolton heir finished, "now, sweetling, please tell me what I've written. I'd like to hear it from you."

"Ramsay", David said, his voice barely above a whisper, "you carved your name into my skin."

 

"Exactly!", Ramsay patted his head to praise him, "so everyone knows who you belong to if anyone ever tries to take you away again."

David couldn't help but stare at the man's blood-soaked hand, "that's... that's a lot of blood..."

Ramsay smiled happily, "pretty, isn't it? Such a beautiful colour. I'd love to admire it a while longer, but I'd best get you some bandages before you stain your clothes."

"How gracious of you", the boy replied, barely able to even keep up the sarcasm in his tone. Who would have thought being cut with a dagger could be so tiring?

Ramsay ruffled his hair, "lay back down on your stomach, I'll go and get those bandages. I hope you enjoyed your present."

David nodded absent-mindedly before laying back down. Only when Ramsay left the room did he notice the tears running down his cheeks.

"This", he muttered to himself, "is not what I imagined marriage to be like.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To everyone who made it this far- thank you for reading! I appreciate it a lot and I'd love to have some feedback or criticism so I might still improve my writing.  
> Anyway, thank you again  
> Bye!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Boltons await a very special guest and David is more than happy to meet her

The following days went by surprisingly calm. David spent a lot of time in the kennels, talking to Theon or training his dog. Ramsay taught him how to use his new dagger and took him to the woods to practice archery. Sometimes Ramsay would demand to know about future events and David somehow managed to tell him small details without displeasing him or having him change his behaviour too much.

Ramsay visibly hated how comfortable Theon started to feel around David, so in return to every smile he witnessed from the young Greyjoy he took his anger out on the boy through hits and bites. However, he didn't stop the two of them from spending time together. Logically, as he was too busy spending most of his time with Myranda. The girl still shot David death glares whenever they crossed paths and insulted him on every occasion, but that happened less often after Ramsay got David to tell him about how Theon could accidentally kill her someday. And then one morning Roose informed Ramsay of a guest about to arrive.

 

"The girl will stay for as long as necessary", Roose had said at the dining table, "I made an arrangement with Lord Baelish to keep Winterfell and in return take her in and keep her safe."

"I won't harm her", Ramsay said and David was almost sure he actually meant it, "as long as Sansa Stark lives with us, she shall be safe."

  
  


David was glad Ramsay didn't force him into a dress when Sansa Stark arrived and instead let him walk around in his usual clothing.

"She's going to stay for a while", he said, "so she'll see you looking like a guy anyway. No need to dress you any different from usual, I don't really care about impressing this Lord Baelish."

 

When David first saw her he had a strong urge to hug Sansa. The girl was dressed well and put on a polite smile, but he could see the sadness in her eyes. No wonder, after all she'd been through. As long as Petyr Baelish was around, Ramsay behaved like the nicest person in Westeros. David was impressed by what a good liar he was. He somehow even managed to find a polite agree to Baelish questioning David's rather irritating appearance.

"You see, this is my wife, Alice", he told him with a well faked warm smile, "Alice does not feel very comfortable in the role of a lady, so  _ he _ prefers to go by the name David. And who am I to judge his decision as long as he is happy?"

David politely bowed to the visitors, "it's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Sansa. Lord Baelish as well, of course."

 

The boy was asked to escort Sansa to her room and happily agreed to do so.

"It's good to see you arrived here safely", he told her on their way, "I've, uh... heard what you've gone through, my lady. I'm very sorry."

Sansa nodded, "thank you. I hope returning home might put an end to all the trouble.”

"I can assure you, you will be better from now on", David smiled gently, "I will personally see to your needs if necessary."

 

Sansa took a while to warm up to David. He continued to ask her questions and complimented her in order to make her smile.

Finally, as they sat on the bed in Sansa's new chambers, their roles switched and she was the one to ask a question, "there is a thing I don’t quite understand. You have a pretty face. So... why don't you dress like a lady?"

David chuckled, "because I am no lady. I don't feel very comfortable in pretty dresses or long hair, I'm just... David."

"I see", a small smile crossed her lips, "you kind of remind me of my sister Arya. Well, Lord Ramsay seems to accept you this way so I will do the same."

David shrugged, "I think Ramsay doesn't really care about my looks."

"Is he a good husband?”

"I guess I could have met a worse fate”, the boy admitted, “he may not be the nicest person or the most caring but I honestly don’t mind. He’s…”, he was trying to find the right words, his face flushing bright red, “on our wedding night I was scared so he didn’t touch me. And hasn’t since. I’m very grateful for that.”

Sansa seemed a little surprised by that but when she saw David’s embarrassment, she smiled, “you know… Lord Tyrion was kind like that too. He said he wouldn’t touch me if I didn’t want it.”

“I’m glad to hear that”, David replied. He decided it was probably not the best idea to bring up how the only reason Ramsay hadn’t raped him so far was the fact that the mere threat of it was enough to make David do whatever he told him to, “you know, he doesn’t need me for that kind of stuff anyways, I guess that’s why he doesn’t care too much. He still has Myranda.”

“Who’s that?”, Sansa tilted her head, “when we left earlier I saw him walk up to a woman but she didn’t look too happy.”

“That’s her”, David sighed, “she pretty much hates me because I believe she thought she’d end up marrying Ramsay. But it’s fine, really. At least she’s keeping Ramsay at bay.” 

  
  


David made it his personal task to keep Sansa accompanied. With nothing much to do, the two of them eventually ended up going down to the kennels to pay the hounds a visit.

"Usually Ramsay feeds them", he said, "but I don't trust him to  _ always _ do so, which is why I get them snacks sometimes. Oh, let me introduce you to my puppy!”

Ram the hound wagged his tail upon seeing Sansa. He moved in circles around her legs, nudging her hand with his nose to get her to pet him.

"His name is Ram", David said, "he's the only male one. Ramsay prefers female hounds."

He reached through the kennel bars to stroke one of the dogs, Kyra.

Sansa patted Ram's head and the dog happily sat down to her feet. "he's lively.. I remember when my wolf was this small, she was just like him.”

 

The young hound had grown quite a bit since David first got him. He was barely shorter than his female companions by now, but sometimes he still seemed to think he was a lapdog, pinning the boy to the ground under his weight.

“You had a wolf?”, David asked as he watched Sansa pet the dog.

“Yes”, she said, a small smile on her lips, “a direwolf. Her name was Lady, she was a beautiful creature. She… died, a long time ago.”

“I’m sorry about that”, David replied quietly, “I know pets can be like family members.”

“I’ve lost too many family members already.”

 

David turned his head as he heard footsteps getting closer. Theon Greyjoy slowly tapped towards them.

"Theon", he called out, "come over here and meet Lady Sansa."

"Theon?", Sansa repeated confused, "Theon Greyjoy?"

"It's... my name is Reek", the man stammered, his head hanging low.

"No, it’s not", David snapped, "that's what Ramsay calls you, it’s not who you are. You are Theon and nothing can change that.”

"What is he doing here?", Sansa backed up a little, her face completely blank of emotion.

David hesitated, "Ramsay took him hostage. He... well, he broke his mind and turned him into this."

"He betrayed one of my brothers and killed the other two. Maybe that’s payback for what he did."

Before Theon could even open his mouth for a reply, David blurted out, "he didn't kill them. Bran and Rickon are still alive and safe, Theon killed two farmer boys. Yes, betraying Robb was a mistake, but I can assure you, he regrets it.”

The Stark girl looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise, “my brothers are alive? How do you know that?”

“I never told you any of this”, Theon added hesitantly, “you… you do that a lot. Saying things you shouldn’t be able to know about”, he frowned at him and David was surprised to see, he wasn’t avoiding his gaze for once, “how do you do that?”

 

David gulped, taking a deep breath, "I can't really explain it. It’s like… like this place is a story I’ve heard before. I know the people involved, I know their history and I know how the story is going to end.”

“So… if you know ‘the end’, that would mean… you can predict the future?”, Sansa asked, raising an eyebrow in disbelieve.

“Yes”, David nodded, “I know that sounds insane but it’s true. I’m currently trying to prevent Ramsay from meeting an awful fate, that’s the only thing he really needs me for.”

Theon started to tremble, "can you... can you tell me about my fate too?"

“I’m not sure how much of it is still going to happen”, David admitted, “you know, Ramsay was.. originally meant to marry Sansa. Then you would have helped her escape from here. But I don’t know how that’ll turn out now.”

Sansa furrowed her brows, "I was supposed to marry Ramsay Bolton?”

David avoided meeting her gaze, "yeah. But he wouldn’t have been a very nice husband. I mean, he still isn’t but at least he’s trying not to drive me insane.”

 

“So… with all that knowledge you have”, Theon asked slowly, “... do you have a plan? You know, how to change fate?”

“I…”, David took a moment to find the right words, “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just try to prevent everyone I like from making bad decisions. I want people to be happy.”

"You can't watch out for everyone", Theon said quietly, "there's no way you can make everyone happy in this world.”

David wanted to reply when he heard a voice call out for him, "David!"

 

He turned around to see Ramsay entering the kennels, "I was looking for you. Seriously, you spend so much time in here you might as well be a dog yourself."

"I've accompanied Lady Sansa on a little walk around the keep", David replied, "and I introduced the new Theon to her."

"Yet you still didn’t introduce him as Reek, did you?", Ramsay smirked, "anyways, I need you to come with me."

"Why?", the boy frowned, "I wasn't done talking to Sansa yet. It wouldn't be polite to just leave now."

The young Bolton flashed him the most innocent smile, "my father is making me furious, Myranda bores me to death and if you don’t come with me and entertain me  _ right  _ this second, I’ll take your friends out to the woods for a little hunt.”

 

David kept wondering how he was able to say the most terrifying things in the sweetest voice, "you can't harm Sansa. I told you this won't end well for you."

"Then I'll only take Reek. I doubt anything will change if he has a few fingers or a bit of skin.”

"Fine", the boy growled, "I'm coming with you. Don't you dare hurt Theon", he turned around to Sansa, "I am very sorry my lady, but my lord husband is in need of my company. I'm sure Theon wouldn’t mind bringing you back to your room.”

He did not even get to hear Sansa's reply as Ramsay already grabbed his arm and dragged him off.

 

“You looked like you were having fun”, Ramsay said as they were walking, “do you enjoy spending time with Lady Sansa?”

David nodded, “it’s nice to talk to someone my age once in a while”, he frowned, realising Ramsay was heading towards their chambers, “...what are you planning to do?”

"The usual", the man replied, "leave a few bruises on you. It certainly helps me to calm down."

David gulped. He was aware Ramsay did not hurt him as bad as he was capable of but that didn't make the bruises less painful. Moreover, he was terrified whenever Ramsay got too close to him, scared he might decide to do a little more than leave some bite marks on him.

As soon as they stepped into the room the young Bolton locked the door, "undress."

David stood, hesitating, "what part of my clothes? Only my tunic or...?"

"Everything."

 

The boy felt pale eyes linger on him as he undressed with shaky hands, dropping his clothes onto the floor in a neat pile. When he was done Ramsay moved closer until David could feel the man's breath hitting his bare skin. A shiver ran down his spine.

"You're trembling", Ramsay mused, moving in circles around him, "are you scared, sweetling?"

"A little", David admitted.

"Why?"

"Because I never know your intentions. You're completely unpredictable."

"You're smart, Little Lord", the boy flinched as Ramsay's hands slowly, almost gently touched his back, warm fingers tracing the healing scars, "I'm not going to hurt you too badly. I just want to have some fun."

 

He finally stopped right behind the boy. The Bolton heir placed a quick kiss on his husband's shoulder before biting down in the very same spot. David grit his teeth to not let out a whine. As the skin broke a satisfied smirk spread on Ramsay's lips and he began licking on the small stream of blood.

His arms wrapped around the smaller boy's waist, one thumb stroking his side in tiny calming movements. Another few bites were placed on David's skin, followed by nibbling and small kisses. Ramsay's bites were painfully violent. His kisses, on the other hand, surprisingly soft.

"For being this furious", David remarked quietly, "you're rather gentle today."

He felt warm breath hitting his neck as Ramsay chuckled, "you say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not", the boy replied, "just... unusual for you."

"Don't get used to it", David flinched in surprise as he felt Ramsay's hands slide down to his thighs. He turned the boy around and knelt down, inspecting him. A dissatisfied growl rose from his throat, “sit down on the bed. Now.”

 

Swallowing a nervous whimper David did what he was told. Ramsay didn't bother getting to his feet and instead crawled over until he was sitting right between the boy's legs. Their eyes met for a second before Ramsay lowered his head to carry on with his actions.

David had expected more bites and pain. Instead, the young Bolton began trailing kisses all over his skin. His hands moved up to his hips to lock him in place, yet his grip was, for once, not firm enough to leave marks.

The boy could not hold back a small mewl as he felt a hot tongue sliding over his thighs. Slowly, making sure to not leave a single inch of skin untouched, Ramsay's lips moved upwards. With rising panic, David noticed how the man's breath became faster, his kisses sloppier the more he moved upwards. Pale grey eyes looked up at terrified blue ones. And 

suddenly Ramsay burst into laughter.

 

"What- what's so funny??", the boy stammered in a mix of confusion and horror.

"You should see your face right now", Ramsay giggled and flashed an amused smirk, "your face is bright red!"

David weakly kicked his arm, "you're mean!"

"And you're adorable", a dark chuckle rose from the man's throat, "such an innocent expression... I could devour you."

David gulped, "can't... can't you keep these kinds of things for your time with Myranda?"

Ramsay shrugged, fingers playfully gliding over the boy's legs, "her reaction is less entertaining. I told you, she's boring me."

"What did she do wrong?"

"She's jealous of you", Ramsay rolled his eyes in annoyance, "said she didn't like the way I introduced you to Lord Baelish. I sounded too much like I was 'caring about you' or something. Stupid whore's trying to claim me as hers."

David raised an eyebrow, "the way you talk about her makes me feel almost sorry for her."

The Bolton heir growled, "I told her I hate jealousy and she didn't listen. Why should I talk nice about her?"

"I don't know, maybe because you feel something like affection for her?"

"She's not there to hear it anyway", Ramsay looked up at him and smirked, "you know what, your sweet reaction just now gave me an idea. Don’t move.”

 

David sat completely still as his husband slowly got to his feet and bent down until their noses were touching.

"Ramsay?", David asked, his voice jumping from nervosity, "what are y-"

An unexpectedly gentle kiss shut him up. Ramsay sighed happily, one hand moving up to the boy's cheek to softly stroke it. David could feel his face flush bright red as he simply blinked at the other in surprise and confusion.

Ramsay smirked and let out a chuckle before biting down on the boy's lower lip. A pained whine escaped David's throat before he ducked away, "what was that for?!"

The young Bolton laughed, "I just wanted to see your reaction. Like I thought, way more interesting than Myranda."

David growled and touched his aching lip, "I hope you're not planning to do that more often."

A couple of pale eyes full of sadistic amusement met his gaze, “oh, but why not? We could have so much fun together.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roose and Walda have news to share that not everyone is happy about. David gets into a rather unpleasant argument

In the days following after this event, David decided he needed to murder Ramsay. Apparently, Ramsay found it very entertaining to make him blush, so he continuously dragged the boy into their chambers, trying to find new ways to embarrass him or make him uncomfortable. David was terrified. It was only a matter of time before Ramsay would get bored with only ever teasing him to a certain limit. He couldn't do anything about it though because whenever he pointed out his discomfort it would only result in Ramsay having even more fun with it.

 

"This is awful", David complained as he took a walk around the yard with Sansa, "I mean, he's not even really  _ doing _ anything. But I just  _ know _ he will eventually snap and then I can say goodbye to my will to live forever.”

"You are married to him though", Sansa said, "sooner or later he will want to have an heir, right? It’s inevitable."

"I was hoping he'd father a bastard", David admitted, "I mean, there's a high chance that Myranda could get pregnant and then he'd have a heir and wouldn't need me."

Sansa raised an eyebrow, "are you sure that's a good idea? I mean... imagine Myranda  _ was _ actually carrying out his child. Do you believe that would make her hate you less?"

"No... she'd probably just hate me even more because even then she would never truly be his wife", he let out a desperate sigh, "but currently Ramsay is spending less time with me than her and  _ that _ makes her hate me too! What do I do?"

"Endure it", Sansa said, "and hope Ramsay simply gets bored and goes back to her."

  
  
  


On that evening the entire family sat down for dinner together, including Roose and his wife Walda. David almost choked on his meal as Roose suddenly declared that Walda was pregnant.

"Congratulations", he managed to say, "I wish good luck for the little one."

He felt Ramsay's eyes on him but didn't dare to look at him. Instead, he stared at his plate and prayed silently that Ramsay wouldn't murder him later on.

After dinner, the young Bolton grabbed David and shoved him into the closest empty room.

"My stepmother is pregnant", he said slowly.

"I know", David replied, "I've heard it."

"Did you know about it before?”, Ramsay asked, frowning, “how come you never mentioned it?”

David avoided his gaze, "I didn’t want to alarm you for no reason. I thought it would just make you mad.”

"Well  _ now _ I am mad because you didn't tell me", Ramsay tilted his head, "why would this be alarming? Tell me, why do you think I wouldn't be delighted to hear I'm having a little baby brother or sister?"

"Because if it's a boy... then that child will be the rightful heir to House Bolton", David stared at the ground, "you're wearing the Bolton name, but you've been legitimised by Tommen Baratheon, who happens to be another bastard, so... that kid has more claim to heritage than you."

 

"You say  _ if _ it is a boy", there was a dangerous sparkle in Ramsay’s eyes, "you  _ just  _ told me this information could either ruin or save my entire future and yet you kept it from me. You know what it is, don’t you? So  _ tell me _ already.”

"...Do you promise to not freak out?"

"It's a boy. Of course, it has to be a  _ boy _ ", he moved closer, one hand closing around the boy's throat, "why didn't you say anything you idiot?!"

"I was scared!", David choked out as the grip tightened, leaving him breathless, "I don't want you to hurt an innocent child!"

"How else am I supposed to stay my father's heir then?!"

“Send Walda away”, David blurted out without thinking, “and- and kill Roose… so he can’t bring them back.”

"You’re suggesting I should kill my  _ father _ now to protect some child?", a hint of despair shone in those furious pale eyes, "have you gone insane now, how would that help me?”

 

“You’ll do it anyways”, the boy started to feel a severe lack of air, “panic reaction. But… no need to kill.. the baby. He’s your  _ brother _ . Roose deserves it… the child.. didn’t do… anything.”

Ramsay finally let go and David fell to his knees, coughing and trying to catch his breath. There was a moment of silence between them.

"I won't hurt Walda", he finally said, "at least for now. But I might change my mind. I will  _ not  _ lose everything I fought for because of an infant."

David looked up at him, "I won't let you lose what is yours by right, Lord Bolton."

  
  


The next day David was sitting in front of the kennels alone. Theon was busy doing whatever task Ramsay had given him, the Bolton heir himself was attending a meeting with his father, and Sansa had decided to do some embroidery.

With his puppy laying at his feet David tried to carve a small piece of wood with his dagger. He had never been very good at handcrafting things, but at least that would put the dagger to good use. Ramsay kept telling him one day it should be used to slit someone's throat, but David doubted that would ever happen. There was no way he would even so much as consider to hurt a person. He didn't even dare to shoot an animal when he practised archery with Ramsay.

The carving was rather rough and uneven but David was proud of it. He had managed to create a hound's head and was just starting to shape the body as suddenly a shadow fell onto him. Slowly he looked up and met the furious gaze of Myranda.

 

"If you're looking for Ramsay", he said, trying to stay polite, "he's with Roose. They've been talking the whole day, apparently, it's an important issue."

"I'm not looking for him", Myranda replied in a sharp voice, "I was looking for you."

"Me?", David raised an eyebrow, "what do you want?"

She crossed her arms, "you need to stop messing with Ramsay’s head. You have way too much influence on him."

"This again?", the boy sighed in annoyance and got to his feet, "listen, I am not doing anything. Ramsay is just doing what he wants and it's not my fault he's bored of you. I really couldn't care less who he's fucking as long as he keeps it to himself."

"He should have killed you when you got here", Myranda's voice was cold as ice, "you're not as special as you seem to think you are. Just a little unimportant girl pretending to be a man."

David grit his teeth, "I. Am not. Pretending!"

"Oh? Then tell me why I see nothing but a pathetic little girl", she sneered, "he should force you to wear dresses, that way you at least  _ look _ somewhat decent."

"Maybe he prefers me like this", the boy could barely hold back his anger, "actually, he told me it's like that. I am more interesting than you, so he abandoned you. You're just a boring jealous whore."

 

Myranda snapped. In the blink of an eye, David was on his back with the hard ground below him, desperately coughing for air as Myranda's hands tightened around his throat.

"Pathetic indeed", she hissed, "you claim to be a man, yet you can't even defend yourself properly.”

David panicked. The fury in Myranda's eyes let him know she planned to finish what she had started. The yard was empty, no one there to save him except for the puppy jumping around them angrily barking, being no help at all. His fingers found a solid object and without thinking twice he thrust his hand upwards.

In an instant, the grip around his neck loosened. He watched in terror as Myranda clutched her throat, coughing up blood. As he pulled the dagger from her flesh the warm red fluid dribbled onto his face. Myranda choked out another few coughs before she crashed down next to him, her eyes open and empty.

  
  
  


He didn't know how long he sat frozen in place before a shaky hand touched his shoulder.

"D-David", Theon stammered, kneeling down in front of him, "come... come on, get up. Hurry. We can... we can clean all of this up before someone gets here. We just need t-to be quick and everything will be fine!"

"Nothing will be  _ fine _ ", David replied, his voice cracking. A sob escaped his throat as tears started running down his blood-splattered face, "what... what have I done...?"

As his body started to tremble from sobs Theon wrapped his bony arms around him to pull him closer. David pressed against his chest in a desperate search for comfort.

Only when he heard a voice from behind Theon did he realise he was still holding the dagger in a tight grip, "step aside, Reek."

David whimpered when Theon moved, leaving him exposed to the piercing pale eyes of Ramsay Bolton.

 

"I'm sorry", he choked out between sobs, "I-I didn't mean to do this... I just w-wanted... I'm so s-s-sorry..."

Ramsay knelt down in front of him, his face showing no expression whatsoever.

"Don't cry, sweetling", he said quietly and wiped a tear off David's cheek, "men don't cry just because they killed someone."

The boy flinched as he let out a dry laugh, "you did clean work there. Doesn’t look like it took her long to die. Look how deep that cut is."

When David didn't react, his voice hardened, "do I have to repeat myself? Look."

Slowly David darted his eyes to the lifeless body. The bloody gash on the neck almost made him gag.

"Good boy. Burn that image into your mind. I hope you'll never in your life forget it again", Ramsay got up, "Reek, bring David to our chambers. I will take care of Myranda."

A shiver ran down David's spine as the young Bolton's voice cracked upon saying Myranda's name. The last thing he saw before Theon dragged him away was Ramsay pulling Myranda's dead body into his arms.

 

David didn't stop sobbing the whole way to his chambers. Theon awkwardly patted his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, but that did nothing to help him calm down.

"I don't... really know what to do", the young Greyjoy admitted, "shall... shall I go and look for Lady Sansa?"

Slowly David shook his head, "I don't want her to see me like..”, he gestured down on his blood-soaked clothing, “like this.”

"Do you... want... a hug?", Theon asked, "I believe that's all I can do..."

The boy nodded, "please..."

Theon's hug was stiff, his thin arms just didn't seem to lay the right way on David's back, but the gesture felt somewhat calming. David's tears did not vanish but after a while, his sobbing stopped.

"Thank you, Theon", he whispered, "I'd prefer you to leave now. Whatever is going on in Ramsay's mind right now, I don't want you to get involved."

Theon gave a small nod and locked eyes with him, "good luck."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramsay decides to punish David for what happened. Things don't go according to plan

Not much time had passed when Ramsay entered the room. His hands were soaked in blood and the boy cringed away as the other reached out to stroke his cheek.

"You're still crying", Ramsay said in a calm voice, "I suppose you're in shock because of what you did, is that it?"

David nodded hesitantly, "I'm... sorry."

"What exactly are you apologising for?", the Bolton heir tilted his head, “for killing Myranda or for making me feel so many mixed emotions at once?”

When David just frowned in confusion he chuckled quietly, "you certainly surprised me today", his fingers travelled down the boy's neck, making him tense up, "I would have sooner expected Myranda to kill  _ you _ , truth be told. I am very  _ mad _ at you for taking something away that belonged to me. But… I am also strangely  _ fascinated _ . You look perfect like this, all covered in someone else's blood. And you look so beautifully terrified...", he sighed, "the only thing that bothers me are those marks she left on your neck. If Myranda wasn't dead I'd hunt her down for touching you.”

 

David looked up at him with big eyes, "are... are you going to hurt me now...?"

"No sweetling, not right away", Ramsay gently brushed a few hair strands out of his forehead, keeping a soothing tone to his voice, "it's late already and you look like you could use some rest.”

He flashed a warm smile, "let’s get that blood off of you, alright? I’ll help you with that.”

David nodded, a strange numbness washing over him. He’d expected Ramsay to tear him apart, to hurt him. Instead, his presence was just… comforting.

 

Ramsay moved him around like a doll but David did not care. He felt incredibly exhausted and strained from the day's events, so he just followed instructions without complaints.

"I carved a hound", he said quietly as Ramsay washed his face, "I want to give it to you... as a gift. I…”, he frowned, “I must have dropped it somewhere at the kennels."

"That's sweet", Ramsay replied absentmindedly, "I'll look for it tomorrow."

When they finally went to bed David automatically moved closer to his husband, instinctively looking for the comforting warmth of his body, leaning against his chest to listen to the calming beat of his heart. As soon as Ramsay had wrapped his arms around him he fell fast asleep.

  
  
  


David was woken up with a forceful bite on the neck.

"Ow!", he whined and opened his eyes, "What was that for?"

"The marks were bothering me", Ramsay muttered, apologetically nibbling at the bruised skin, "had to do something about it."

David shifted slightly to lean onto him, the events of the previous day immediately filling his mind again, "I feel horrible."

"You should. For taking my dear Myranda's life  _ and  _ for committing your first kill when I'm not around."

"Stop", the boy rested his head on the man's chest, "I feel sick just thinking about it."

Ramsay ran one hand through his hair, "if you throw up on the bed you will  _ lick _ it clean."

David groaned, "gross... when do we get breakfast?"

"Later", a cruel smile formed on Ramsay's lips, "first we're going on a little walk."

"A walk?", the boy raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "...why exactly do you want to take a walk?"

"Oh, you will see."

  
  
  


David's anxiety grew with every step they took towards the woods. Ramsay had slung his longbow over his shoulder and was humming happily. Suddenly he stopped.

"Why are we here?", David asked nervously.

The young Bolton chuckled, "have you forgotten? You still need to be punished", he put one hand on the boy's shoulder, "I'm in the mood for a little hunt. And you will be my prey."

David stared at him in pure horror, "w-wait... i-isn't there any other way you could punish me? Please tell me you won't-"

"I won't kill you. At least if you make the hunt interesting enough", he flashed an innocent smile, "if I was you, I'd start running now. I ordered someone to bring the hounds over here and they’ll find you too soon if you don’t have a head start."

As David just stood there frozen in shock Ramsay tilted his head, "what are you waiting for? Run!"

 

David ran, although his body wanted to collapse. His heart felt like it was trying to burst from his ribcage. His lungs barely filled with air. He blindly stumbled through the maze of trees, his only goal being to get as far as possible. His mind rushed as he heard a bark from somewhere in the distance.

Suddenly he crashed into a big tree. The tree had a branch just low enough for him to climb it, yet high enough no hound would be able to reach it jumping. With a little struggle, he climbed up and pressed as close to the tree trunk as he could.

The barking got closer. A hound approached him; a rather short black creature with stunning pale eyes.

 

"Ram!", he called out in relief, "come here, good boy. Sit!"

The puppy sat down in front of the tree and wagged his tail.

"Listen, buddy, you have to do whatever I say now. I might need you to distract your friends."

He was sure Ram would never be able to win a fight against one of the adult hounds, but the dog would certainly be able to buy David some time to run if one of the girls found them.

As one of the hounds finally came running from the bushes he was about to give a command- only the dog was wagging her tail and happily jumping towards the tree.

"That's... interesting", he muttered to himself. Realising the hound was not showing ans sort of aggression, he slowly reached out a hand to her, "Kyra! Come here."

Obediently the dog trotted closer and nuzzled her snout against his hand.

"That's a good girl. Now sit."

When the hound did as she was told, David couldn't help but smile, “seems like you’re loyal beasts after all.”

The fear he had felt earlier started to fade as he jumped from the branch and pet the two hounds, "alright then. It's time to make this game a little more enjoyable."

  
  
  


By the time Ramsay managed to find him David was surrounded by four dogs in total; Kyra, Willow, Helicent and his own hound. He calmly sat on the ground, the dogs sprawled out around him.

"What in the world...?", Ramsay did not look amused, "what’s going on here?! They're supposed to  _ hunt _ you, not take a nap with you!"

David smiled, "that didn't work. They don't seem to be in the mood for a hunt."

Ramsay growled, making some of the dogs flinch and snarl back at him, “useless creatures, you're supposed to be loyal!"

"Oh, but they are", the boy responded, "very loyal, actually. They refuse to bite the hand that's feeding them."

The Bolton heir threw his bow to the ground, “you can’t imagine how much I would love to strangle you right now.”

“But I only did what you wanted", despite being terrified of the man's rage-filled expression David managed to remain calm, "you said you wouldn't kill me if this was an interesting enough hunt, didn't you? It might not have been what you expected, but you can’t say you weren’t surprised. You can hardly call this outcome boring, can you?"

Ramsay took a moment to simply look at him in silence.

 

"Well played", he said finally, "you may stay alive a little longer."

David let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding in, "thank you. Are we going to go back now?"

The Bolton heir nodded, "yes. But first I want you to come over here. I have something I want to give you.”

Slowly David got to his feet and stepped over to him. He had no time to react as Ramsay suddenly grabbed his neck, pulling something from his pocket with the other hand. The boy yelped in surprise before realising that instead of hurting him Ramsay was attaching something to him, "there, done."

"What...?", David raised a hand to his throat, feeling a cold strap of leather on his skin.

"The dogs seem to like you", Ramsay smirked, "I think they're confusing you for one of them."

David blinked, "you put a fucking collar on me?"

"I did. It suits you. Now move your ass back home."

  
  
  


When the two of them returned they ran into Roose Bolton. The man was as expressionless as always as he looked them up and down.

"I heard that whore of yours died", he said bluntly, addressing Ramsay.

"Her name was Myranda", David could feel Ramsay tense up next to him as he did his best to speak calmly, "but, yes, she is dead, father. Murdered by my sweet wife over here."

David felt weirdly exposed under the older Bolton man's pale gaze. The collar around his neck felt tighter all of sudden.

"Seems like that girl has more brains than you do", Roose said, “let’s hope she’ll pass it down to your children. Which reminds me; the maester is almost completely sure Walda's child will be a boy."

Ramsay smiled bitterly, “so you’d have a trueborn heir then?"

David knew he should probably stay quiet, but somehow the words escaped his lips before he was able to stop himself, "it's not unusual for newborns to suddenly die."

 

Roose eyed him, "what did you say?"

"Children are weak little things", he replied, "trueborn or not, I don’t think anyone should view that kid as a heir yet. Maybe Walda will have a miscarriage, maybe the child will get sick. Those things happen quite a lot. I don't know about you, but I believe a baseborn bastard in his best years is more fitted to be your heir than a trueborn infant who's not even born yet."

Roose looked him up and down.

"As I thought, quite smart", he said, "but you might want to work on your manners, young lady."

Ramsay didn't say a single word as he watched his father leave.

 

"Not to be rude", David said, "but your father is a fucking moron."

"That's not rude", a small smile formed on Ramsay's lips, "that's the truth."

"I never really liked him", the boy mused, "that lack of emotions is annoying... and kind of creepy. Plus he doesn't treat you properly. If there was a price for the worst father in Westeros he'd probably be in a tight match with Balon Greyjoy."

Ramsay raised an eyebrow, "did you just compare my father to Reek's?"

"I compared him to  _ Theon's _ . Now that I think about it... you and Theon are quite similar to each other too. Two young men who don't fit in with the rest of the family while all they long for is their father's love."

"I'm not longing for anything", Ramsay snapped, "don't pretend you know what I'm feeling or thinking."

David looked up to meet his pale gaze, "I'm not pretending, Ramsay", he quickly lowered his head again, "I'm... going to look for Sansa now. Call for me if you need me."

  
  


Sansa couldn't stop looking at the collar.

"That's horrible", she said, "you're not a dog."

"It could be worse", David replied, "I mean... I'm not dead. And Ramsay was more than willing to murder me. I guess after what happened with Myranda he has all right to."

"Don't say that", Sansa gently touched his shoulder, "you did not mean to harm anyone and he knows so."

"I feel awful because of it."

"You don't have to."

"I still do."

 

"David!", Sansa looked at him frowning, "you're one of the kindest people I've ever met. Don't you dare bring yourself down!"

"I'm sorry", David said quietly, "thank you for comforting me. Mind if we change the topic?"

Sansa cleared her throat, "well you... you can predict things, right? Can you please tell me something about my family?"

 

David smiled, "of course. Let's see... first of all, your siblings are alive and well. I mean, everyone but Robb... anyways, Bran is on a journey that is going to make him... let's say wiser. He'll get back to Winterfell eventually. When you meet Arya again she will have learned how to fight and get revenge on anyone who harmed your family.

Jon will become very powerful and eventually bend the knee to Daenerys Targaryen... I dislike that part, Robb was the only true King In The North and Dany should just stay away from the Seven Kingdoms altogether. And lastly Rickon... he's alive. And pretty much doing nothing. Ramsay was meant to kill him but the events leading to his death won't ever happen because they instantly get Ramsay killed too and he doesn't like that thought."

 

"Is Rickon going to get here too then?", Sansa asked.

David nodded, “as a captive. But I'll find a way to change that. I mean... I know Winterfell should be  _ yours _ , but as long as Ramsay gets to keep it he won't have a reason to harm any of you."

Sansa looked at him sceptically, but before she could reply she was interrupted by a knock on the door. Theon entered the room, immediately turning to David, "Ramsay's looking for you. He... he didn't say why but he wants you to get to your chambers right away. He looked angry."

David gulped, "well... I won't let him wait then. I don't really want to lose any of my skin to his rage."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was fun to write. I think a Bolton story is not complete without at least one hunt, haha. Anyways, the upcoming chapter will include a scene involving a little bit of more detailed violence, so consider this a small warning. Although let's be honest here- who'd expect anything else from a Game Of Thrones fanfiction?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramsay reminds David what he's capable of. The two of them decide on the fate of Walda and Roose.

As soon as David entered the room Ramsay began stripping him off his shirt. The boy winced at the tight grip on his arms that would most certainly leave bruises.

"I can undress on my own!", he said quickly, "you're hurting me!"

“Sweet of you to think I care.”

"W-what did you call me here for?"

Ramsay shoved him onto the ground, forcing him into a kneeling position, "your earlier punishment did not have the effect I was hoping for, so I'll try a different one."

 

He circled David like a wolf waiting to attack, "I forgave you rather easily because Myranda was disposable to me. But the way you avoided your punishment was… irritating. I feel like you’re getting too carried away, like you’re starting to forget what I can do to you if you make a mistake. So I figured, you might need a little reminder.”

Finally, he came to a halt and crouched down in front of the boy, "I'm still being merciful with you. I am going to whip you now and I will only stop once you're sincerely begging me. If I am convinced you're at your limits your punishment is over. You're not allowed to move out of that position unless I say so."

David looked up at him with wide nervous eyes, "you will stop as soon as I beg...?"

"I will."

"Then I’m begging you to not hurt me at all, I don’t have the best pain resistance and-”

He stopped when Ramsay just laughed at his words, "that's not how it works. Ten strikes are my minimum, you can start pleading  _ afterwards _ . And I'll only stop if I feel like you  _ truly _ mean what you’re saying."

 

Ramsay got up and grabbed a whip he had placed on the bed previously. David bit his tongue as it hit his skin without a warning. He was barely able to recover from the sudden sting as the leather met his skin yet again. The pain was burning down to his bones, his back feeling like it was torn apart. The third strike made a whimper escape his throat. The fourth brought the first tears to his eyes. He broke down sobbing at the seventh.

"T-this is too much", he whined, "it hurts t-too much..."

"Too much? We're not at ten yet, sweetling", David did not dare to look up at him, but he could practically hear Ramsay smirk, "come on, you can take more than that. Three left and you may try to convince me you’ve had enough."

 

David closed his eyes and began counting along in his head. One. His back felt like it was on fire. Two. He could feel warm liquid dribbling down his bare skin. Three. The last strike made him collapse entirely. He curled up on the cold floor, sobbing in unbearable pain.

Ramsay leaned over him, flashing a smile full of fake pity, "you moved. Too bad, that means more strikes for you."

"NO!", David raised his head and looked at him through a veil of tears, panic rising in his chest, "no, please stop! I can't- it's too much! Please-"

His words turned into a pain filled cry as the whip hit his shoulder, "you don’t sound like you mean it yet.”

"Ramsay please", David had to force his words out between sobs, "I b-beg you... please stop! It hurts too much, I- I feel like I'm going to faint."

"Will you apologise for sabotaging your original punishment?"

"I will", the boy lay at Ramsay's feet defeatedly, trembling, "I'm sorry, very s-sorry... I promise to never do such a thing again. I-I'll be good!"

 

David didn't really think about what he was saying. He knew what Ramsay would want to hear and the words stumbled out of his mouth, the humiliation of it making him feel sick. Yet he would take humiliation over the pain of that whip anytime.

Ramsay smiled down at him, "good boy. Very good. I accept your apology."

He put the whip aside and picked up the whimpering boy. David flinched as soft lips placed a kiss on his forehead, "I think that should do as a punishment for everything. We’re done here.”

Ramsay set him down on the bed, eyes fixated on David's face that was by now puffy and reddened from crying.

"You're very beautiful like this", he whispered, a sadistic smile spreading across his lips, "I love this expression."

David didn't reply. Ramsay tossed his tunic over to him, which he put on as quickly as he could with his back aching at every movement.

“Will… will you do that again?”, David asked quietly, “I mean, if- if I screw up?”

Ramsay looked down on him, “it had the effect I was hoping for, so yes. If you want to avoid it, you’d better not get yourself into any more trouble.”

  
  
  


The next morning David woke up with his body hurting all over. Whining and still half asleep he cuddled up to Ramsay's chest- only to be pushed away.

"What are you doing?", he complained tiredly and rubbed his eyes, "I'm showing you affection  _ once _ and you won't let me?"

"You're only affectionate because you're too tired to tell the difference between me and a pillow", Ramsay replied, "you'd just doze off again. And I need you to be wide awake right now."

Immediately David's head shot up, "awake for what?"

The Bolton heir stretched and let out a yawn, "I've been thinking. About that... child... Walda is having. It might be for the best if I get rid of her after all- and my father as well, you mentioned I’d end up killing him anyways, so why not get over with it right away? I know that kid is a boy anyway, so why hesitate?"

In an instant, David was wide awake, "You said you wouldn't hurt the baby!"

"I said I would  _ consider _ it."

 

David propped himself up on his elbows, "you can't kill an unborn child!"

"Are you sure about that?”

The boy frowned, "this is about an innocent infant. He didn't choose his heritage more than you chose to be a bastard."

Ramsay rolled his eyes, "if you have better advice, go ahead."

David took a moment to think about the best reply.

"Kill Roose", he said slowly, "and take over his position as Warden of the North. But let Walda and the child live. Send her off to one of the free cities, away from the Seven Kingdoms. There are dozens of Walda Freys in Westeros so nobody will even ask questions if one of them sails off with a baby boy from an unknown father."

"Great plan. Now tell me", Ramsay lazily gazed over to him, "why would I take that effort?"

 

"Because it's less suspicious. I mean... you can blame your father's death on some enemy but if his pregnant wife dies as well everyone will immediately assume you’re behind it", David rested his head on the man's chest, looking up at him, "you could just say she left for safety reasons. In case the ‘enemy’ who killed Roose might return and try to end the whole Bolton bloodline. As his only son, of course, it's your duty to make sure his wife is hidden away safely while you take over his titles and lands."

Ramsay chuckled, “what a nice lie you came up with. But you do have a point, damn you”, he sighed, “fine, I will look for a ship willing to take Walda far away from here, unseen."

The boy put one hand on Ramsay's chest and absentmindedly traced his fingers over it in small patterns, "thank you."

"Why is it that you care so much about Walda and her child", a smirk crossed Ramsay's lips, "but you're not even trying to convince me to let my father live? You're almost  _ encouraging  _ me to become a kinslayer."

"I hate Roose Bolton", David muttered, "he's been awful to you and your mother and it's his fault Robb Stark is dead. And you would have killed him eventually anyway. But Walda never hurt anyone. She doesn't deserve to die."

Ramsay let out a sigh, "how does everything you say always sound so plausible?”

“I guess that's the perk of being able to predict the future."

  
  
  


David waited outside of the room as Ramsay paid his father a visit. The man had tried to convince him to join him and watch Roose's life fade, but David felt like throwing up at the mere thought of being near a dead body. He closed his eyes and tried to think of something more positive- flowers, puppies, Theon and Sansa- anything that didn't have to do with murder. After a few minutes, the door opened and Ramsay stepped outside.

"Done", he said, his voice shaking slightly. He took a deep breath and when he spoke again he sounded a lot calmer, "now on to Walda. David, you're coming along."

David nodded and slowly opened his eyes again. Ramsay smiled at him as if nothing had happened, yet his face was slightly paler than usual and there was a wild look in his eyes, almost haunted.

"Are you okay?", the man asked, tilting his head, "you look sick."

"I  _ feel _ sick too."

A dark chuckle rose from Ramsay's throat, "you didn’t even see him die."

"I know but-"

"And you were the one who suggested solving my problems that way."

"I know! I'm just... not used to, well, murder. I'd be very happy if this was the last person to die around me for a while."


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ramsay deals with Walda. Sansa gives David an interesting idea.

Ramsay sent one of the servants to find Walda and bring her to the dining hall. When she arrived there he was sitting at the end of the large table, the seat usually taken by Roose Bolton. David sat to his left, anxiously chewing his fingernails.

"Ramsay?", Walda asked with a frown, "why did you call for me? Where is Lord Bolton?"

Ramsay slowly rose to his feet to look at her on eye level, "I am Lord Bolton."

As the words sunk in Walda shook her head in disbelief and stepped back, slinging her arms around her round belly, "...what happened to your father?"

"My father is dead, he was poisoned by an enemy", Ramsay walked around the table until he stood face to face with the frightened pregnant woman, "now, it would be tragic if the same thing was happening to you,  _ mother. _ Wouldn't it?"

Walda seemed to shrink under his glare, "...yes Ramsay."

Ramsay flashed a smile of faked pity, "truth be told, I doubt Winterfell is a safe place for you to stay at right now. Which is why you will be leaving. Some of my best men will escort you to a ship right this evening that will bring you all the way to Pentos", his smile faded to a dead serious expression, "you will leave this place, not as Walda Bolton, widow of Roose Bolton, but as Walda Frey, one out of a dozen, who's never left the Riverlands, never even so much as heard of House Bolton.

If someone asks about the child or the reasons of your escape, you tell them exactly this; your child is a bastard born from rape and you had to flee or else the child's father, whose name you won’t reveal to anyone, would have killed the both of you. Do you understand?"

 

Walda quickly nodded, although she seemed surprised and a little confused over his words, "yes, I do understand."

Again Ramsay smiled, sweet as ever, "good. Thank you for your cooperation. David, please bring my dear mother back to her chambers so she may start packing her belongings."

David rose from his seat, "as you say, Lord Bolton."

Patiently he adapted to Walda's rather slow walking pace as they made their way down the hallway.

 

"You don't have to come along all the way to my chambers", the pregnant woman said gently, "I will not go anywhere else. I'm aware of what a generous offer Ramsay has made and I would be foolish not to take it.”

"Alright", David said, almost relieved, "it's kind of him indeed... letting you sail to Pentos."

Walda gave him a sad smile, "by now I know Ramsay good enough to know that he is not a kind person. He's not worried about my safety and has no real reason to not just kill me. Admit it, you have a part in this sudden generosity of his."

The boy hesitated before he answered with a smile, "let's just say I gave him a few advices concerning family matters."

"I am so very thankful, David. You saved me and my child and I will never forget that. Is there any way I can properly show my gratitude?"

David felt his heart ache at her sincere words, "just promise me you will give your baby a happy life far away from here. That's all I'm asking for."

"I promise I will", Walda turned to continue her way but gave David one last look, "good luck with Ramsay. I believe if anyone can handle living with him, it’s you.”

  
  
  


"I'm truly sorry to hear about your loss", Sansa told Ramsay at the dining table that evening, "but I am certain you will be just as good of a Lord as your father has been."

"Thank you, Lady Sansa", Ramsay replied, completely unmoved, "your words are very touching."

Sansa looked over to David, "you did not happen to, uh, have a  _ feeling  _ this was going to happen?"

"I did", he said, "I was the one who suggested to send Walda away to prevent further damage.”

The Stark girl smiled, "it must be great to have your knowledge. You could use it to help so many people. You could bring justice to the world."

 

"Justice?", Ramsay snorted, "that's a sweet thought my lady, but the only one gaining justice from David's abilities is going to be me."

"Sometimes you benefit from helping others though", David said, "take Sansa for example. If you treat her well, you won’t turn her family against you.”

"Well, I  _ did _ take your advice on that. But that was a one time deal. How often can a case like this possibly occur?"

David did not reply. He took a moment to recall all the people who were yet to die in the future. In his mind, he saw King's Landing going down in green flames. He didn't want anyone to die. But why would Ramsay care about saving people he had never met? Unless... well, unless he could benefit from helping them.

  
  
  


When the two of them lay in bed that night David collected every bit of courage he had and rolled himself on top of Ramsay until he completely sat on the man's lap, straddling him.

"Ramsay?", he asked, putting on his best puppy-eyed expression, "can I ask for a favour?"

Ramsay raised an eyebrow at him, then smirked, "it's hard to deny you anything if you climb on top of me like that. What is it?"

David took a deep breath, "now that you're the Lord of House Bolton and you can do whatever you want... would it be possible for us to travel to King's Landing?"

Immediately the man's face fell, "why? Does this have anything to do with the things Sansa said earlier? If so, forget about it."

"No! I mean, yes. Kind of? At least hear me out, please."

"Fine, go ahead. I hope for you, you're not just wasting my time.”

 

David leaned down until their noses almost touched, "you're a mighty Lord now... but you could have so much more power still. And sure, you could gain it by risking your life in battles... or in a more strategic way. What would be an easier way to rise in power than to befriend the mighty?"

Ramsay opened his mouth to speak, but David stopped him, "I'm speaking of king-level power. In King's Landing Tommen Baratheon rules and his supporters are strong. But the king himself is very young, naive even. It would be very easy to gain his trust. If you managed to do so he would not hesitate to become your ally, you’d have support from the royal family itself. Something you really need if you plan to keep Winterfell with so many Starks still alive.

The king’s mother might be more distrustful though. But Cersei knows a good ally when she sees one, if you’d convince her you could benefit from each other’s power she’d probably cooperate. Imagine the power you could have if the royal family views you as a trustful ally."

 

Ramsay said nothing for a while, just mustering him. Then, slowly, a grin formed on his lips, "all of this does not sound too bad. But you don’t care about me having any power, do you? What's  _ your _ benefit in this?"

"A lot of people are going to die soon at King's Landing, a lot of very important people. And I would like to save them and kill the ones responsible for their suffering."

The young Bolton reached up and gently stroked the boy's cheek, "that's a kind goal you have there. But my family is not exactly known for being kind. I do, however, like the idea of gaining power", he smirked, “fine, you’ll get what you want. I will send a raven to King's Landing on the morrow to tell them we wish to speak to the king. But when we go there, we will do things  _ my _ way."

David couldn't hide a smile and leaned into the hand touching his face, "I'm sure your way will be good."

Ramsay chuckled, "that's what you think  _ now _ . I doubt you will like my conditions but let's keep this conversation for tomorrow", he let his hand travel down to the boy's hips, "right now I want to enjoy the way you're straddling me."

David's smile fell, "what do you m-"

He was silenced by soft lips meeting his own. As he just froze in place, not knowing how to 

react, Ramsay rolled his eyes and stopped, "you know, you're supposed to kiss me back."

 

"B-but", David stammered, "I don't... I've never..."

"Gods, don't give me that look! I'm trying to  _ kiss _ you, not fuck you!"

The boy stared at him in disbelieve, "...really? Just this?"

"Just this", Ramsay sighed in annoyance, "unless you make me change my mind. Let me kiss you a little and you won't get hurt. There's a high chance you'll even enjoy this."

David gulped, "I-I've never kissed anyone. I don't think I'm a good kisser."

"Then I will make you one."

Again he placed a gentle kiss on the boy's lips but this time he returned it. Ramsay's actions were unexpectedly gentle. His hands rested on both sides of David's face, pulling him closer. His pale eyes grew dark and clouded as he studied David's reaction.

Slowly David started to relax, closing his eyes and leaning into the warm touch. The boy let out a small sigh as Ramsay gently nibbled at his bottom lip. He felt the heat rising to his cheeks and could practically feel the man smile against him.

The kiss lasted a few more minutes, always staying slow and gentle, never even coming close to being rough or demanding. David found himself frowning in disappointment when Ramsay pulled away at last.

 

"Beautiful", the young Bolton breathed out, stroking his flushed cheek, "you did well. Good boy. I just want to do one last thing."

He pulled David closer again and placed his lips on the boy's neck. David tensed up, expecting the usual painful biting. Instead, Ramsay began slowly sucking at his skin, only very carefully scraping it with his teeth.

David blinked in surprise, "are you trying to make a hickey?"

Ramsay chuckled against his neck, drawing his tongue over the reddening skin, "I think I’ve told you already that bruises suit you."

The boy just rolled his eyes. He let out a yawn and leaned onto Ramsay, "Can we sleep now? I'm tired."

"Of course. I'm getting tired myself", the man wrapped his arms around him and shifted until they were laying next to each other on the bed. David closed his eyes and cuddled up to him. Listening to Ramsay's rhythmical heartbeat it took him barely a minute to drift off into sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey begins

The morning was spent making preparations and arrangements for their journey south. When Sansa heard they were headed to King's Landing she went pale as a ghost.

"I suppose you'd prefer to not return there", David said, "that’s understandable. Which is why we would like you to keep things in order here at Winterfell while we’re gone”, he smiled, “it’s your home after all, that’s how it always should be.”

Theon, on the other hand, was going to come along on the journey. Ramsay claimed it was because he didn't want to risk another attempt of Yara Greyjoy saving her brother.

"If he is joining us, then as Theon, not Reek", David said, "people will have a hard time trusting you if they see you parading around a human pet. Gain trust first, make threads later."

"Fine", Ramsay replied, "but it's your task to make him look and act like a lord again."

 

Theon had almost cried with joy when he was granted a bath. David carefully helped him wash off the dirt of weeks, maybe month, trying to not frown at the sight of the man's scarred and bony body. When Theon was finally clean the water had changed to a sickening dark colour.

Afterwards, David took his time untangling Theon's long curls, cutting them a little as well, since some of the knots and tangles were impossible to brush out.

They dressed the man in some of Ramsay's own clothes, which needed a little adjustment despite the two men being of the same height. Where Ramsay was muscular and well-fed, Theon was barely anything but skin and bones.

Finally, David stepped back to admire his work, "look at you! Now you’re starting to look like a proper Ironborn. It’s like you’ve never met Ramsay!”

Theon looked down at himself, "I don't feel any different though…”

"We'll work on that", David gently nudged his shoulder, "listen, in King's Landing Reek doesn't exist. When we’re there you don’t have to act out the role of the servant, you can act like the arrogant lord from the Iron Isles you’re supposed to be.”

The man shot him an uncertain glance, "I don't think I remember how to do that."

"Just mimic Ramsay’s demeanour, that should do the trick. I’m hoping you'll gain some confidence once you see it’s working", David smiled, "let's practise a little. What is your name?"

 

"Reek", upon seeing David's disappointed look Theon mumbled a quick apology and changed his answer, "I mean... Theon. Theon Greyjoy."

"Better. Now a little more certain. You're the Prince of Pyke for the love of gods, you need to  _ sound _ like it!"

Theon took a deep breath, "I'm Theon of House Greyjoy."

"A little more arrogant! Come on, you can do it, I know so! What’s your name?"

The man frowned, "but I just told y-"

"You didn't convince me!", David crossed his arms, "you sound like you're talking about someone else, not yourself. Again;  _ what is your name _ ?"

There was something glittering in Theon's eyes that made David grin; apparently, he had provoked him enough to awake at least some of his old spirit.

"I am Theon of House Greyjoy", he said and for the first time in forever his voice did not crack mid-sentence, "son and  _ heir _ to Balon Greyjoy. I am an Ironborn of Pyke, a Kraken."

"That's right", David said with a smile, "well... welcome back to the living, Lord Greyjoy. I think you're ready."

  
  
  


When David got back to tell Ramsay about his success with Theon he was greeted with a cold smile.

"You took your sweet time", the young Bolton simply stated, "but while you were busy I laid out some clothes for you to wear once we get near King's Landing."

David curiously raised an eyebrow, "clothes? What clothes?"

"Look for yourself, it’s over on the bed.”

The boy stepped closer and immediately regretted it. Spread out on the bed lay the most beautiful dress he had ever seen; dark red fabric crested with rose coloured laces and a pale pink belt with cross-shaped ornaments. It was the most horrific sight David could imagine.

Slowly he turned around to meet Ramsay's amused gaze, "...why?"

"Because my wife has to look extraordinarily beautiful when we reach the city. Isn't it generous of me to give you such a nice present?"

"It's... very pretty", David stammered, blinking rapidly to stop his eyes from watering, "but... I don't understand. Why can't I wear my usual clothes?"

Ramsay gave him a look of fake pity.

 

"You agreed to do things my way, correct?", he asked slowly as if he was speaking to a child, "that's why you're going to wear this. If Reek is going to be Theon, then instead of David you will be Alice Bolton, my loving wife. If I’d let you run around dressed as a boy people will start talking. You don't want to cause any bad gossip to spread, do you?"

David avoided meeting his gaze and shook his head in silence.

"Good", Ramsay smiled, "it's settled then, you're going to play your part. And don’t even  _ try  _ to do anything but that.”

Miserably the boy lowered his head, "I won't."

  
  
  


Finally, they were ready to depart. David raised an eyebrow as he noticed Ramsay gathering all of his dogs around himself, "are you really taking nine grown hounds with you to King’s Landing?”

"Ten, actually", Ramsay smirked, "or would you like to leave your pup behind?"

David's eyes widened, "I can take my dog with me?"

"Of course you can! I'm not a  _ complete _ monster."

Sansa came down to the yard to say goodbye. 

"Be careful in the city", she told David, "there are not many people you can trust there.”

The boy hugged her, "don’t worry. I'm travelling with Ramsay Bolton, untrustworthy people won’t even get close to me.”

He watched as the people around him started getting on their horses and grew a little uneasy.

 

"David!", Ramsay called, "what are you waiting for? Get your horse already!"

David cleared his throat, "uhm, there- there might be a small problem with that."

"What is it?", the man rolled his eyes, obviously not pleased to be left waiting.

"Well, uh, I've never really been on a horse before. I don't know how to ride."

"You... what?", Ramsay swung off his horse, "what do you mean you've never been on one?!"

David flinched, "well, uh… I never needed to learn how to ride, so…”

Ramsay let out an annoyed groan, "we don't have the time to teach you now. Don't move."

Suddenly the boy found himself lifted off the ground and up onto the back of Ramsay's horse. The young Bolton got on in front of him, "hold onto me and try to not fall off."

David wrapped his arms around Ramsay's waist, "you're letting me ride with you?"

"Unless you'd rather walk."

  
  
  


They made their first break when the sun began to set. Ramsay let his hounds roam the woods to hunt for prey. David's puppy followed them, although he looked more like he wanted to play than to hunt.

Their travel party settled down in a small Inn, Ramsay paid for a good dinner and some rooms. The innkeeper shot him a strange look when he saw David, still dressed in his usual clothes, following him into his room. When the boy noticed his stare he simply winked and shut the door behind himself.

As David began to undress for sleeping, Ramsay sat down on the bed, "you know, now that nobody can take my heritage from me anymore... maybe it's time for me to worry about my own heir."

The boy froze in place, "... you mean… you want to have a child with- with me?”

"Exactly."

 

David gulped. Then he forced himself to smile, "I was hoping... maybe you could just father a bastard instead and make him your heir.”

Ramsay looked like he had just been slapped, "... are you seriously suggesting that?"

"Uh... yeah?"

Ramsay glared at him.

"I will not have a bastard", he said, voice dripping with anger, "we live in a world that despises bastards. Besides, people would start talking. The bastard son of a bastard- what kind of lord would that make?  _ Nobody _ would accept that child as Warden of the North."

The boy went silent for a moment. He hadn't thought about it like that before but what Ramsay said made sense. Yet that did not make him less uncomfortable with the entire idea of losing his virginity to the most violent man he knew.

 

"Why are you so scared to have sex with me in first place?", Ramsay asked in annoyance, "we’re married, we’re  _ supposed  _ to do it. And I've been going easy on you for way too long already."

David let out a desperate sigh, "I’m not comfortable in my own body, it would just be another reminder that my body is just  _ wrong _ . Even if that wasn’t the problem, I have this awfully childish dream of my first time being romantic and out of love! I don’t love you, you don’t love me and it’s just going to hurt”, he took a deep breath, “if- if it has to happen, at least let it be in a better place than  _ this _ . Something with a little more class, not some dirty Inn on the road.”

Ramsay laughed, causing a shiver to run down David's spine, "class you can have. If that’s all you’re asking for, I’ll wait until we’re in a better suited location”, his smirk grew dark, “but don’t let me wait too long, or I might lose my patience.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey continues and David discovers a softer side of Ramsay

Ramsay woke David up early in the morning, making him dress and eat in a hurry.

"Why do we have to ride so soon?", David complained, rubbing his eyes, "I'm tired!"

"The earlier we ride, the further we get in one day", Ramsay ruffled his hair, "if you're really that tired you may sit in front of me on the horse and sleep some more. I'll catch you if you fall.”

"Nice offer, but I have to decline", the boy grinned up at him, "admit it, you’re only suggesting this so I'm in your reach if you feel like groping someone."

"How  _ dare _ you think I'm this selfish?", Ramsay asked with a gasp, then he smirked, "you're absolutely right though."

  
  
  


Around midday, the hounds disappeared into the depth of the woods. They had to stop and take a break in order to not lose the dogs completely. David used the free time to wander around a little, Theon by his side.

"The woods are beautiful", the boy whispered, taking in the scenery around him, "I really love nature."

"I prefer the open sea", Theon replied quietly, "the scent of salt in the breeze, the sound of rushing water... I can almost hear it just thinking about it."

David frowned and came to a halt, "...why can  _ I _ hear it too?"

Theon looked around, "maybe we're near a river."

The boy's face lit up, "we might be able to go for a swim then! Come on, let's look for it!"

 

Theon had trouble keeping up with him as he suddenly started running through the trees. The 'river' they found was very small, just a tiny stream, but surprisingly deep. What was interesting about it though, was the way it flowed. The water was blocked by a pile of stones, making it flow sideward, bending back before reuniting with the original stream. A small bit of land was trapped in the middle of this circular flowing little river.

"This", David said, eyes shining, "is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

Without thinking twice he stripped off his leather vest and fur cloak, tossed his boots to the side and jumped into the water.

Theon flinched as he got splashed with cold drops, "w-what are you doing?!"

"Swimming!", David declared happily, moving onto his back so the stream could carry him, "you should join me, it's perfect!"

Leaves rattled nearby and Theon immediately lowered his head as someone approached them.

 

"What in the world are you doing?", Ramsay asked, stepping closer to the stream.

"Having fun", David replied, "we're far enough south already so the water’s not too cold. In fact, it's pretty refreshing."

"You're getting your clothes all wet!"

"Yeah but it's  _ fun _ !", the boy swam up to him, "why don't you join me?"

Ramsay chuckled at that but there was a strange tone to his voice, making him sound almost  _ nervous _ .

"I can’t.”

"What do you mean?", David raised an eyebrow, "of course you can! Just jump in!"

"It's- the water is too deep. I can't."

It took a moment for David to figure out the meaning of his words, "...you can't swim?"

Ramsay avoiding looking at him, fixing his gaze on the floor instead, "there was never a need for me to learn. I mean, up north you’d freeze to death in most waters."

"Undress."

Immediately his head shot back to glare at him in confusion, "...what?"

David met his gaze, "you heard me. Undress and get into the water, I'm teaching you how to swim."

 

"No, don’t even think about that. I don’t feel like drowning."

"You won't drown!", the boy rolled his eyes, "you automatically float, just keep your head up."

Ramsay huffed, "why would I even need to know how to swim?”

"Someone could kill you by literally just pushing you into a lake", David looked over to Theon, "hey Theon! You're a good swimmer, aren't you? I mean, you grew up surrounded by water."

Theon nodded slowly, "I- I think I can swim quite well."

"Great! Then get in here and help me! With two people supervising nothing can go wrong!”

Ramsay opened his mouth to protest, but before he could do so, David had climbed out of the water and shut him up with a quick kiss on the cheek, "pretty please?"

The man growled, then he let out a long sigh, "if I drown, I’ll come back as a ghost and haunt you.”

  
  
  


Eventually, Ramsay stripped down to his tunic and breeches and entered the water. He clung onto the root of a nearby tree, clutching so tight his knuckles turned white.

“You can let go, you know?", David said in a quiet, calm voice, "I told you, you won’t sink. You could start by just laying on your back and floating with the stream if you want to. Here. take my hand, I'll show you."

Ramsay studied his face, "are you sure that will work?"

The uncharacteristically helpless expression on his face made David’s heart jump in his chest. The man before him was not his usual sadistic self- just a lost boy scared of drowning.

"I am sure", he said, "just trust me."

Slowly Ramsay reached out to take his hand, letting go of the tree. David slightly leaned back in the water to let the stream carry him. Ramsay stiffened up as they began moving but started to relax once he realised that he wouldn't sink.

"Not too bad now, is it?", David asked.

"No", he admitted, watching the water flow past him, "just... don't let go."

 

After a while, Theon joined them and the two of them slowly and patiently showed Ramsay how to move. David did most of the talking, as Theon was visibly too uncomfortable to give instructions but somehow Ramsay's obvious vulnerability helped to raise the young Greyjoy's confidence at least a little. In the end, Ramsay managed to swim in slow but steady strokes, a proud smile on his lips.

"It  _ is _ refreshing, I have to admit", he said, "but I still prefer staying on land.”

He looked over to Theon who had been happily swimming on his own, "you appear to be a pretty good swimmer indeed, Reek. Maybe you are useful for something after all."

"Thank you, Theon", David said, "for helping me to teach that damn thickhead."

Ramsay glared at him and splashed water at his face. David squeaked in surprise and let out a laugh. From the corner of his eye, he could see Theon flashing a small amused smile too. This journey sure was starting to turn out wonderful.

  
  


When they got back to their camp to grab some dry clothes the pack of hounds was just returning. The girls had obviously had a good hunt, judging by their blood-soaked snouts and paws. Two of them, Helicent and Willow, were carrying a dead doe between them. The animal was still mainly in one piece, only the throat being ripped apart, so Ramsay ordered his men to skin it and cook it over the fire for dinner.

"We'll set up the tents for now", he said, "we can make up the time lost today if we set off at first light tomorrow."

After they ate David lay down on the grass-covered forest floor. His dog trotted over to him, rubbing his snout on the boy’s hand until he pet him. On the other side of the campfire, Theon was busy setting up a tent.

Suddenly a shadow fell on David.

 

"You  _ just _ put on clean clothes", Ramsay said, "why are you dirtying them again already by laying around?”

"Because the floor is a good place to lay on", the boy replied, "besides, it's not  _ that _ dirty on the grass. Hey, lay down with me!"

"Why would I?"

"To enjoy the view."

Ramsay shot him a curious look but lay down anyway, "what is there to see?"

David smiled, "look at the sky. There are fewer trees here, so you get a good look at the clouds."

"You're... watching clouds?"

“Don’t sound so judgemental, it’s a normal thing to do", the boy puffed out his cheeks, pouting, "you know, with just a little bit of imagination you can see shapes and figures in the clouds. It's fun to watch them change as they pass by. This one for example", he pointed at a small cloud, "looks like a flower."

Ramsay narrowed his eyes, staring up at the sky, "well... kind of."

David let out a happy sigh, "I could just watch them all day."

 

Ramsay did not reply but neither did he get up again. They lay next to each other in peace, watching fluffy sheep clouds fly by, pointing at ones shaped like dogs and dragons and lions until the moon rose and the sky darkened and dozens of shining stars sprinkled it.

"The stars are truly beautiful", David whispered.

"They are", Ramsay replied just as quietly. The camp had fallen silent around them so it somehow seemed appropriate to not disturb the calm, "but I've seen things more beautiful."

David pouted, "can't you just enjoy the sight as it is?"

"I'm trying but I’m distracted by your face", as the boy began to blush heavily, Ramsay smirked, "you look so incredibly happy about the smallest things, it's entertaining to watch you."

"It's not like I'm the only person to enjoy stargazing", David muttered, "it's just so... calming. Makes you forget about the rest of the world for a while."

Ramsay pushed himself up on his elbows, "well, you can continue on your own, I'll get to our tent now. Don’t fall asleep out here, you talk in your sleep and we don’t need the whole camp to hear that.”

"Don't worry, I won't", the boy yawned and slowly got up, "I'll come with you, I'm tired. And I've learned my lesson about sleeping on the hard ground.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we're already halfway through the story! I hope it's still interesting to read. I'd love to know your thoughts and speculations about how the plot is going to continue from here on, so feel free to tell me about them in a comment!


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Ramsay and David arrive at King's Landing

David soon came to the realisation that their stop at the stream was about the most interesting event of their journey. As they continued to go south they crossed woods and green fields; beautiful landscapes that David would have loved to explore but Ramsay barely let them stop for long enough. At some point, Ramsay decided David should finally get his own horse and taught him how to ride. The boy learned quickly and immediately got attached to his new pet. David was having fun; sometimes riding ahead of the group, sometimes letting himself fall behind to see how long it would take Ramsay to notice his absence. Then, one morning, Ramsay told him to put on the red lace dress.

"I look so... feminine", David stated as he looked down on himself, "like an actual lady. I absolutely hate it."

Theon tried his best to cheer him up, "well... you look better in a dress than I would."

That managed to make him laugh, "I am sure you would be a lovely lady, Theon."

Ramsay approached the two of them, "we've almost reached the city. David, from here on you'll only be addressed as Alice or Lady Bolton. Reek... for the time being you have to pretend to be Theon Greyjoy. I know it's hard to be someone you're not, but I trust you’re able to do it. Got it?"

They both nodded and David rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I mean it", Ramsay said, "don't try anything that could get you in trouble", he smirked, "just be my lovely little wife and you’re fine”

  
  
  


At last, they reached King's Landing. David's jaw dropped at the sight of the city. He had only ever seen it on a screen, but this was different. It was  _ real _ . And it was much more magnificent than he could have dreamed of. As they rode through the gate he couldn't help but stare at his surroundings.

Ramsay next to him was taking in the view as well, "it's different from home, huh?"

"Yes it is", David replied, "I've never seen a place this beautiful. I think I'm in love."

"I hope you won't start drooling over it", Ramsay laughed, "remember, we're trying to leave a good impression.”

  
  
  


David had thought King’s Landing was so incredibly breathtaking there was no way anything could get close to it in elegance. And then he saw Margaery Tyrell. He had seen many pretty women in his life but not a single one was even half as beautiful as the queen. Her gentle smile had a playful undertone, her eyes shone mysteriously as if she could look right into a person's soul.

He was harshly pulled out of his daydream as someone tugged at his wrist.

"Stop staring at her!", Ramsay hissed, "we're here for a reason!"

 

They knelt before the king and queen and Ramsay began to speak, his voice coated in sugary sweetness, "Your Grace... I am Ramsay Bolton, Warden of the North. It is a pleasure to be able to meet you, especially since your family and mine have been in contact before, concerning the infamous Red Wedding. Personally, I never viewed Robb Stark as a king, the true king has always been the one here at King’s Landing. My father had the same opinion on that.

Unfortunately, my beloved father was killed recently. I believe it would have been his wish to see House Bolton staying loyal to the crown in the future still. And this, Your Grace, is why I came here. To personally swear loyalty and offer my services in war as well as peace times."

 

During his speech, the room was completely quiet. David watched with fascination how people hung on every word Ramsay spoke; the young Bolton knew exactly how to gain people’s attention, presenting himself as charming and amiable.

When he was done, Tommen thanked him, accepting his offers and politely invited them to stay at the Red Keep for as long as they wished. He also ordered his servants to prepare a feast in the evening to properly welcome his guests.

 

"He's putting so much effort into being courteous", Ramsay said to David when they went to look at the chambers they were given, "he sounds like he’s been practising everything he needs to say in front of a looking glass. He may call himself king but he seems so...  _ naive. _ "

"I told you so", David replied, "if you just play nice around him for long enough Tommen will  _ love _ you. And hopefully, he will take advice from you. Because there is a cult rising to power here in the city and once they have lured him into their faith everyone is as good as dead.”

"What about the queen?", Ramsay asked, "anything I need to know about her? Despite the fact that you're apparently very attracted to her."

David sulked, "it's not my fault she's pretty! Anyway, all of the Tyrell family is very smart, manipulative. I doubt they will fall for your sugarcoat facade for very long. But I believe Margaery will realise you could benefit from each other."

Ramsay nodded, thinking, "...is there someone I need to watch out for?"

"The king's mother", the boy said immediately, "I told you before, Cersei is harder to reach out to. Her biggest concern is her son's safety so you might keep that in mind. Keep an eye on Varys and his little birds; they're practically everywhere, always listening.

Oh, and this cult guy. He calls himself the High Sparrow. If he manages to rise to power our whole journey has been useless."

 

"He's why you wanted to come here then?", a smirk crossed Ramsay's lips, "if you manage to play my sweet wife well enough, I will get rid of him soon."

David gulped down his uneasiness, "I  _ will _ manage. Actually, I think if he dies Cersei will be very thankful. She had to deal with him before and… let’s just say, she’s not very fond of his methods.”

Ramsay stepped behind him, resting his head on the shorter boy's shoulder, "that guy would be the second person you ask me to kill for you and the third whose death you’re responsible for. Could it be I'm influencing you?"

David laughed, "who knows? Maybe I'm slowly turning into a proper Bolton."

  
  
  


It was a big relieve to see that Theon was handling the feast quite well. The young Greyjoy was seated to David's left so he could act in case the crowded hall made him anxious enough to drop his role and go back to being Reek.

Theon had seemed a little stiff at first, he barely dared to touch any of the food. However, after a little bit of wine, he started to relax, acting more like a human being than a scared animal. Ramsay was busy keeping up a conversation with Tommen while David talked a little to Margaery.

"I love your hair", the queen said with a sincere smile, "apart from my dear mother in law I hardly know any women who wear it that short. Where are you from?”

"Thank you, Your Grace", David replied politely, "well... I come from a place far away from Westeros, you wouldn’t know the name.”

"Oh, really?", Margaery asked, leaning closer, "say, why did you come to Westeros? What was the name of your house, before you married?”

David suddenly found it hard to keep up his smile, "well- truth be told, I can't remember how I got to Westeros. I assume that's where the gods wanted me to be. About my name... my parents never married, so… I assume here in Westeros my last name would be something like Flowers or Snow.”

 

David slowly recognised that the hall around him had gone silent. People were watching him, staring. Across the hall, someone snorted, "what a perfect bride for the Bastard of Bolton.”

Ramsay opened his mouth to speak, but David was quicker, "where I come from bastard children are nothing rare. Marriage is not as important as it is here, there are probably more children born to unmarried parents than to married couples. Marriage is supposed to be about love, so we prefer getting to know the other before spending the rest of our life with them. So, yes, I am a bastard, but I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

To his surprise, Tommen gave him a big smile, "well spoken, Lady Alice. I would  _ love _ to hear more about your home and all the differences between that place and Westeros! You definitely need to tell me more."

Quickly, the hall filled with voices again, coming back to life with the sounds of cheerful chattering and heated conversations. Servants came and went, bringing desserts consisting of cakes, tarts and other sweets.

Ramsay picked up a small lemon cake and addressed David, "would you like a bit, my love?"

As David thanked him and slowly took a bite, Ramsay leaned closer and whispered into his ear, "I think we should have a little talk later. You're damn lucky you solved that situation so quickly."

 

To his left Theon gave him a small smile, "the king seems to like you Da-", he cleared his throat, "...Alice."

David bit his lip. Somehow hearing Theon use that name made him feel weird. His dress suddenly felt much tighter around his chest. To his right, Ramsay and Tommen were talking about their wives.

"Yeah", he muttered, lowering his head, "he likes lovely little  _ Alice. _ "

Theon immediately noticed his discomfort and frowned, lowering his voice, "are you alright? You’re not comfortable with acting like this, huh?”

"Yeah", he admitted, "everything feels so  _ wrong. _ I thought maybe it wouldn't be that bad but now I'm not sure whether I can really survive this entire stay all prettied up and fucking  _ feminine _ ."

Theon was silent for a second. Then he looked over at Ramsay, making sure he was still distracted by Tommen before he turned back to David, "I might have an idea how to make things easier. I doubt Ramsay will like it, but it's all I can offer you. I'll tell you once we're alone."

A gentle smile crossed David's lips, "thank you, Theon. I owe you something."

  
  
  


Ramsay seemed to be quite happy when they went to their chambers later that night. He had had a few drinks more than usually and gotten slightly tipsy.

"You did well today, Alice", he said, "this is almost going  _ too _ easy. In a week's time, the boy probably loves us enough he'd willingly hand over his crown."

David only frowned, "you don't need to call me that name when nobody is around, do you?"

"But I like it!", Ramsay smirked, "besides, you can never let your guard down, someone might listen. You said so yourself."

David rolled his eyes, "Ramsay, I'm too tired for this. Can we  _ please _ just go to sleep?"

"Aw, but you were so talkative earlier when you spoke to the queen", Ramsay faked a pout and slowly stroked the boy's cheek, "what's on your mind?"

 

He was silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. Then he looked up into that pale pair of eyes, "I'm not comfortable with dressing like a girl. Is there no way I can be myself at least for a short time...?"

Ramsay's face fell, his features hardening, "no."

"Ramsay please, I feel awful like this. Can't I just-"

"I said no", he growled, "I'm not going to argue about this. Go to bed now."

"But-"

"What did I just say? Shut up and lay down or I'll silence you the hard way."

David grit his teeth but didn't dare to disobey. He had barely slipped into his sleeping gown when Ramsay picked him up, letting himself fall onto the bed dragging him along. He pulled the boy closer, cupping his face in his hands, "I have more important things to do than being mad at you. So don't make me mad. Got it?"

David nodded slowly, "got it."

 

"Good", Ramsay smiled, apparently satisfied with his reply, "now, before I forget it; if I remember correctly you told me you were highborn before we married. How is it I never knew you were a Snow?"

At this, David grinned slightly, "you asked me if I was highborn. I agreed. You forgot to ask if I'm a liar."

A dark chuckle rose from Ramsay's throat, "clever little beast. Well, you're lucky I don't care anymore.”

"Of course you don't. Now we're both Bolton bastards."

Ramsay rolled his eyes and yawned, "sleep now. My dear wife should not look tired in public."

David let out a sigh, but cuddled up to him, "good night, idiot."


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Theon are left on their own in the middle of King's Landing- what could possibly go wrong?

Ramsay used the next day to explore the city, leaving David to himself.

"You might want to take a look at the Alchemist's Guildhall", David told him, "King's Landing sits on top of countless bottles of wildfire and if you manage to get rid of them there is a smaller chance of someone accidentally blowing up the whole city."

"Or not-so-accidentally doing so?", Ramsay smirked, "I will take care of it if I get a chance. You're going to stay here and be a good little wife. Don't fuck it up."

David rolled his eyes, "I won't. How long will you be gone?"

"I don't know yet. I might take my time and use the entire day to get a good look at everything.”

"Alright", David smiled happily, "I'll spend the day with Theon then."

Ramsay raised an eyebrow, "are you two plotting something?"

"We would never do such a thing.”

 

"I hope for you that's not a lie", without another word he left. Immediately, David went looking for Theon. The young Greyjoy looked happy when he saw him; it looked like since they arrived at the city he had grown far less nervous and jumpy, seeming a lot calmer than at Winterfell.

"So?", Theon asked, "with Ramsay gone, what are your plans for today?"

"I don't have any", David admitted, "maybe we could explore the castle a little. Perhaps go for a walk in the godswood. And in the meantime just… avoid people.”

Theon frowned, "so you don't have to pretend to be 'Lady Bolton'?"

"Exactly."

"Well", he smiled reassuringly, "good thing I've grown quite good at avoiding people."

  
  


The pair spent the day strolling through the halls of the Red Keep. They only stopped for a quick chat with Queen Margaery once, always staying in motion. David discovered that this was a great way to distract both of them from feeling too uncomfortable or out of place.

At some point, they ended up in the godswood, passing beneath the bright red leaves of a heart tree.

"What an incredible sight", David said softly, "I've only seen a heart tree once on my... well, my wedding."

"They're beautiful", Theon replied, "now that I think about it... what's your faith? Do you pray to the old gods or the new ones?"

David thought about it for a moment, "I'm not a religious person. Where I'm from there are other religions than here, we don't even know have old or new gods, or a Drowned God. Our most practised religion hails a single God whose son died for our sins or something", he furrowed his brows, "I never liked that concept. But I really like the ideas of the Seven or the Drowned God. I like the sea, so an afterlife underwater sounds fun. Only the drowning and pirating concern me a little bit."

 

"I've seen you swim", Theon said with a small grin, "the Drowned God would be honoured to hear your prayers."

David averted his eyes, "mine... or Alice Bolton's?"

Theon's face fell, "yours. You're... not feeling well in your clothes again, huh?"

The boy nodded, "I feel more like a living dress-up doll than myself."

Theon bit his lip, "remember when I said I might be able to help you? I mean... I'm sure Ramsay wouldn't be amused but he's not here anyway."

David's eyes lit up, "what's your plan?"

The young Greyjoy scratched his head, "well... with a few adjustments you might be able to fit into some of my clothes, so...", he took a deep breath, "what I'm trying to say is; if we dress you up in my clothes and maybe dirty your face a little you should be able to walk around the city without anyone recognising you."

David thought about it, "where would we be going?"

Theon shrugged, "maybe a small tavern. It’s not very late yet so I don’t think it will be too crowded.”

A smile crossed the boy's face, "it may be risky but I'm more than willing to try. Thank you, Theon."

  
  


Minutes later David and Theon happily left the Red Keep. David had rolled himself across the ground in the wood to dirty himself up a little, making him look like a young squire instead of a pretty lady. Nobody even paid attention to them as they walked the streets of King's Landing.

"This", David smiled, looking down at his clothes, "is the best feeling in the world."

Theon cleared his throat, "you know... you may look  _ pretty _ in a dress, but you look so much happier in tunic and breeches."

"Theon I could  _ kiss _ you right now for coming up with this!"

"I think Ramsay would flay both of us for that."

 

The two found a small tavern that was only visited by a few knights and sellswords. Nobody did so much as look up as they walked in and sat down at a free table. Theon ordered some cheap ale for himself while David only asked for some fresh water.

"I've never seen you drink anything but water", Theon noticed, "how do you even survive to be near Ramsay without a single drop of booze?"

David grinned, "well, sometimes when he talks I blend out his words and just think about what a nice colour his eyes have. That usually helps.”

  
  
  


Soon, after a few drinks, Theon had a sudden confidence boost. He would not stop chatting and telling silly jokes, he even kept up a lighthearted flirt with one of the waitresses.

David enjoyed his cheerful mood and laughed even at the most awful puns. When the waitress addressed him as 'm'lord', he gave her a wide smile and shot Theon a thankful look.

"I have to ask a question", Theon said at some point, leaning over the table, "I know you're married to Ramsay and all but I've seen the way you look at girls, and it’s exactly how  _ I  _ look at them. So... what do you prefer? Guys or girls?"

David smirked, "why decide on one? There are beautiful women as well as handsome men in the world. Someone’s heart is more important to me than their gender.”

A grin appeared on the young Greyjoy's lips, "if you had the chance, would you marry me?”

This made him chuckle, "Theon, don't get me wrong, you're good looking and very charming. But I don’t think that would work out. You’re more like a brother to me than a husband.”

Theon seemed pleased with that answer.

 

"I love you", he said, taking another sip of his ale, "I mean, you know, as a friend. A very good friend. Great even."

"Theon, could it be you're getting a little tipsy?", David raised an eyebrow.

Theon giggled, "maybe? It's fun though. More fun than having to be Reek.”

David shoved a few coins across the table, "then go get yourself another drink, Greyjoy. You deserve some fun."

  
  
  


A little later that evening the tavern filled with more visitors. David almost jumped from his chair when suddenly someone touched his shoulder. He turned around and looked into the shining eyes of Loras Tyrell.

"I'm... sorry for interrupting you", he said, eyeing the boy, "I just saw you when I walked in and… you look a lot like Lady Bolton.”

David gulped, his mind rushing in a panicked attempt to find a reply. But before he could do so, Theon spoke up, "oh, they- they're siblings. Aren't you Ser Loras, the queen’s brother? I've seen you at the feast yesterday. Anyway, this over is David, he’s Lady Alice’s, uh, twin brother.”

Loras seemed a little irritated by Theon's babbling but he slowly nodded, apparently buying the explanation. David tried to say something but only a small squeak left his throat. Somehow the man left him wordless, his beauty just as stunning as his sister's. He felt the heat rising to his cheeks as Loras noticed how he was staring at him.

The Knight of Flowers gave him a small smile, "as a lady's brother, shouldn't you dress in more appropriate clothing?"

"I-I'm", he stuttered, trying to come up with a convincing lie, "Lord Ramsay only keeps me as his squire because of my- my sister. It's honour enough for me to be around in first place, so... so I don't really care for my appearance."

"I believe a young man with a face as handsome as yours should only dress in the finest of fabrics."

 

David slowly felt himself turning into a blushing mess.

"I-I... thank you, ser. I'm flattered", he stammered. Somehow the entire conversation felt surreal- like a dream. Desperately searching for help, he looked over at Theon.

The young Greyjoy grinned, "I think I'll go and get myself another drink. Ser Loras, am I right to assume I'm leaving David in good company with you?"

He leaned over to whisper into the boy's ear, "I've had my fun today. Now is your turn", before he got up and left.

Loras gently smiled at David, "do you mind if I take his seat?"

"N-no of course not!", David did his best to return the smile, "go ahead."

The Knight of Flowers sat down, "may I ask why you're so nervous? You looked more talkative before I walked over here."

"I'm sorry", David couldn't help but admire the knight's beautiful eyes and the way his curls framed his face, "it's just- I don't think I've ever met a man as handsome as you."

Loras let out a surprised chuckle, "thank you. Although that makes me believe you've never seen into a looking glass because there is no way I look better than you. What was your 

name again?"

 

"David", the boy replied, "...Snow."

"David… What an interesting name", Loras said, "I like it."

"So… you’re the queen’s brother?", David took a sip from his water to clear his throat, "my, uh, sister... told me about you. She saw you at the feast."

"Speaking of the feast, why haven't I seen you there?"

David avoided his gaze, "I... Lord Ramsay does not think I'm suited to attend events like those. I'm no lord or knight  just a squire."

"What a shame", Loras pouted, "I would have volunteered to sit next to you."

David chuckled at that.

"So", Loras leaned closer, "tell me about yourself, David Snow."

  
  
  


The two of them talked for what felt like an eternity and a mere second equally. Speaking with Loras was a lot different from speaking with Ramsay; he could say whatever crossed his mind, not having to think about his words in case he might anger him somehow. The Knight of Flowers smiled at him in a way that made his cheeks red and his knees weak.

At some point, Theon walked over to them, "David, I think we should head back soon."

"Already? But I don't want to leave!", he looked at Theon with big sad eyes, "just a few more minutes?"

Theon looked around nervously, "I really think we should hurry..."

Loras reached for David's hand, the warm touch making his heart skip a beat, "...can we meet again?"

"O-of course!", David flashed a happy smile, "how about... tomorrow evening? We could just meet here, same time, same place."

"I'm looking forward to it."

They looked each other in the eyes for a moment before David finally decided to get up- and immediately found himself trapped as a hand closed around his collar in an iron grip. He looked over his shoulder and right into the furious pale eyes of Ramsay Bolton.

 

"What are you doing here?"

David gulped, "I swear, I can explain!"

"I hope so", Ramsay's voice was barely more than a growl, "we're leaving. Now."

He turned to a very confused Loras one last time but Ramsay dragged him off before he could say goodbye. Theon followed behind them, his head low and gaze fixed on the ground.

"Let me go", David muttered, "you're hurting me."

Ramsay ignored him, shoving him into an empty alleyway and against the wall, "what the  _ fuck _ were you thinking to go out dressed like this?!"

David whimpered in his grip, "I-I just wanted to feel more comfortable! Nobody recognised me anyway, people saw me as a boy!"

"And because of that, you went straight up to the next best guy and flirted with him."

"It wasn't like that!", he protested, "Ser Loras and I were just talking. A-and even if it had been a flirt, he likes men, so he would have flirted with David Snow, not Alice Bolton."

Ramsay looked confused for a second, "...Snow?"

"I-I had that idea", Theon said quickly, "I said h-he was your wife's twin brother. Like those were… two different people."

 

Ramsay let out a dark chuckle, "so much effort just because you don’t like wearing dresses.

If you're really this desperate, fine, keep up that twin story. But you're not meeting the Tyrell boy again."

"Why not?", David frowned, "Loras is a very kind person!"

"You're married to  _ me _ ", Ramsay let go of him and stepped back, "you shouldn't even think about other men."

"Are you jealous?", David looked up at him and flashed a dark smile, "I thought jealousy is boring to you.”

That earned him a hard slap across the face. Dropping his smile he held his stinging cheek and met Ramsay's eyes.

"I'm not jealous", the latter said through grit teeth, "don't ever say that again. We're walking back to the Keep now. If I hear any more complaints, you’ll have a few teeth less.”

David was tempted to provoke him further, but something told him that Ramsay meant his threat. So instead, he lowered his gaze, bit his lip and remained silent.

 

On the way back David walked next to Theon, trying to stay as far away from Ramsay as possible.

"I'm sorry", Theon muttered quietly.

"Don't be", David replied in a low voice, giving him a small smile, "today was fun. We should do that again sometimes."

A sly grin formed on the young Greyjoy's lips, "tomorrow night?"

"Tomorrow night."

They both knew they would get in a lot of trouble if Ramsay caught them disobeying his orders. But the chance of making each other happy, even if it was just for a short amount of time, was absolutely worth it. When they parted, David gave Theon a hug and the other whispered a single word, meant for only him to hear, "brother."

 

Back in their chambers David silently changed into his sleeping clothes without looking at Ramsay.

"Are you sulking?", Ramsay asked, huffing in annoyance, "I'm spoiling you and treating you very kind and once I deny you  _ one _ little thing you immediately start sulking?"

"Because your reasoning is not fair", David crossed his arms, "I just wanted a friend!"

"Reek is your friend!", the young Bolton snarled, "besides, you didn't look like you were trying to make a 'friend'. Now stop complaining and stop fucking  _ sulking _ already. It makes me want to hurt you very badly and I don’t think you would like that.”

"Fine. I'll go to sleep then", David let himself fall onto the bed. When Ramsay laid down next to him he moved as far away from him as possible and turned his back to him. Ramsay just sighed at that but didn't pull him back.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David decided to ignore Ramsay's orders and has to bear the consequences for his actions.

That night his dreams were blood red. Terrifying creatures haunted him, demonic creatures with long claws and blood running down their slit throats and out of their mouths. He was running, clutching his dagger to his chest but he couldn't escape. Long fingers wrapped around his throat, choking him, slowly cutting off his air supply . . .

David woke up kicking and screaming. Between sobs, he took in large amounts of air, his whole body trembling. When he felt a hand on his shoulder he flinched away whimpering in immediate panic.

"L-l-leave me alone!", he sobbed, curling up and tearing at his hair, "I'm s-sorry I'm so so sorry, I didn't mean to do it!"

"David!", the sound of a familiar voice ripped him from the chaos in his head and brought him back to reality. He blinked heavily, trying to get his eyes used to the dark as Ramsay pulled him into a tight hug.

"Calm down", he whispered, stroking the hysteric boy's hair, "it's fine, you just had a nightmare. You're safe. I'm here."

David clung onto him, burying his face in Ramsay's chest while the man whispered sweet nothings into his ear. His voice was soft, reassuring. Somehow it had a soothing effect on David. Slowly he started to calm down until his sobbing turned into small quiet hiccups.

 

He looked up into Ramsay's pale eyes, "...thank you."

"What are you thanking me for?", he asked, keeping his voice low.

"F-for... calming me", David sniffed, wiping tears off his face, "that... that dream shook me up pretty bad."

"I know ", Ramsay gently stroked his back, "don't think about it now. Concentrate on me, yeah?"

David tilted his head, "you… you immediately found the best way to calm me down. How did you do that?”

Ramsay grimaced, "you always sleep uneasy, mumbling, kicking, wailing. It started when Myranda died. You kept waking me up with that, so I just tried to soothe you and figured out the best way is to hold you and talk to you until you're calm again", he smirked, “usually you don’t wake up though. But you just  _ had  _ to be stubborn and sulk.”

David frowned, "I... I wasn't aware that I was moving in my sleep. I'm sorry I woke you up."

 

"I'm ready to forgive you if you promise to not act up again."

"I wasn't acting up, I-", David wanted to protest, but his words were cut off by a yawn.

Ramsay rolled his eyes, "let's keep that discussion for  _ after _ sunrise. Just go to sleep now."

The boy bit his lip, thinking back to his nightmare, "...I don't think I'm able to fall asleep again."

The young Bolton sighed, "you won't have another dream. I will hold you and keep you safe."

Leaving no space for an argument, he pulled David on top of him and wrapped his arms around his waist. David noticed in surprise how comfortable it felt to rest his head on the man's shoulder. The chest below him lifted and sank slowly in calm breaths. Before he even realised it he had cuddled up to the man and closed his eyes, falling fast asleep.

  
  
  


They stayed at King's Landing for several days. Ramsay spent a lot of time talking to the king or roaming the city, figuring out the best way to get rid of the High Sparrow and Cersei's wildfire supply. Tommen seemed to absolutely adore him, already starting to take small advices from him. 

Meanwhile, David kept sneaking out of the Red Keep with Theon. Whenever Ramsay was busy he immediately abandoned his dresses and went out to meet Loras. He quickly grew to like the young Knight, a smile appearing on his whenever he saw him. For a while, this went well. Until one certain evening.

David was visiting the tavern again, sitting at a table hidden away in a corner while Theon was getting himself a drink, watching over them.

 

"Hey", Loras said suddenly, "it's getting a little crowded in here, don't you think? Why don't we go on a little walk?"

"A walk?", David hesitated, "I-I'm not sure... Ramsay doesn’t know I’m here and if he were to see me, I’d get in trouble.”

"Come on, he won't see you", Loras flashed a reassuring smile, "it's rather dark outside already and where I want to go there are barely any people around”, he slowly took the boy's hand, looking into his eyes, "David, please. I promise everything will be fine.”

"That's mean, Loras!", David gave him a playful pout, "you know I can't say no to that face!"

Loras chuckled, "I guess you want to inform Theon first?"

"Yeah. I think he'd freak out if I just vanished. Just give me a second", he got up and walked over to Theon, "hey, uh, Thee?"

 

The young Greyjoy looked up, his cheeks slightly reddened from drinking, "hm?"

"Loras wants to go for a walk", David smiled apologetically, "I-I know it's risky but he promised everything will be alright. Are you going to come along?"

Theon took a sip of his drink before replying.

"David, it's nice of you to invite me", he grinned, "but we both know you want to be alone with Loras. You know, you have this happy spark in your eyes when you talk about him.”

The boy frowned slightly, "you're not gonna tell Ramsay, right...?"

"I would never tell Ramsay. I'd prefer both of us to stay alive."

David gave him a quick hug, "thank you, Theon. This means a lot to me."

Theon simply shrugged, "don't thank me. Just go and have some fun!"

  
  
  


The sun was just setting as Loras and David walked the streets of King's Landing. Loras had an arm slung around the boy's waist, pulling him close. David felt incredibly comfortable; being with Loras was just so uncomplicated. They could talk about almost everything, from light and joyful topics to more serious ones. Loras managed to make him laugh, and blush, and most importantly, feel loved. Knowing he would meet him in the evening made it easier to endure the discomfort of spending his days in pretty dresses and acting feminine.

Suddenly, Loras stopped walking. They were standing in a deserted alley, rows of houses rising around them. The last few streaks of sunlight were illuminating the way, colouring Loras' curls golden.

 

"David, I have to tell you something", he took his hand, "I don’t know how to say it... the last few days with you have been incredibly beautiful. You're a wonderful human being and... it's been a long time since I last felt those things for someone - and I'm still a little scared to open my heart for someone new - but I think I fell in love with you. And I hope you’re able to return those feelings.”

David was taken by surprise, unable to form a coherent sentence for a second. Then, slowly, a shy smile formed on his lips, "I am, Loras.”

The Knight of Flowers gave him a smile so happy it made David's heart skip a beat. For a moment they just looked each other in the eyes, contented silence surrounding them.

Then Loras shifted closer, speaking up, "...is it alright if I kiss you?"

David chuckled quietly, "you're asking for my permission? That's sweet", he lifted his head slightly, "please do so."

 

Their lips met and David could have sworn there were sparks lighting up between them. When Loras put a hand on his cheek he closed his eyes, leaning into the touch. The knight's kisses were careful, gentle. It felt so different from Ramsay and his more assertive, fervent kisses- and suddenly David felt a sting of guilt in his chest. Wasn't he supposed to be loyal? But then again; it had not been his choice to marry Ramsay and the latter hadn't really been loyal either. They weren’t in love, they’d never been.

Soon the thoughts of guilt vanished from his mind; everything he could think about was Loras and how his heart seemed to constantly do backflips as the knight stroked his cheek. And suddenly there was a harsh tug at his nape and Loras' comforting touch was gone.

"’Just friends', I see."

 

David gulped and opened his eyes to meet the glare of a more than furious Ramsay Bolton.

"You little shit", he snarled, "didn't I  _ explicitly _ tell you to not meet this wannabe knight again?!"

"I-I'm", somehow David's voice betrayed him, coming out more high-pitched and panicked than he wanted it to, "Ramsay, please let me explain, I-"

"What is there to explain?", the young Bolton tightened the grip on his neck, "you  _ deliberately _ disobeyed me, don’t expect to get out of that situation unharmed.”

"Let him go", Loras said, glaring at Ramsay, "it's none of your business who he's meeting."

Ramsay let out a bitter laugh, "you have no fucking idea. If you weren't the queen's brother I'd kill you right where you stand."

"No!", David struggled in his grip, "don't hurt him! Please! He didn't do anything wrong!"

"We're leaving", the boy felt the floor vanish underneath him as Ramsay picked him up and threw him over his shoulder, "oh, and, Loras? If you try to follow us, I’ll break a few bones on our precious little David here.”

"You're bluffing."

 

"He's not!", David let out a terrified whimper, "Loras, please do me a favour and listen to him. ...I'm sorry. Goodbye."

The last thing he saw of Loras as Ramsay dragged him away was an expression of pure hurt and concern.

As soon as they arrived at their chambers Ramsay set him down, slamming the door shut.

"Why?", he whined, looking up at him, "why do you have to ruin this?"

Ramsay growled, his voice shaking with anger, "you're  _ mine _ ! I told you to stay the fuck away from him! You willingly disobeyed my orders."

"Because your orders are fucking stupid!", he barely got to finish his sentence as Ramsay hit his face. The impact made David's head snap to the side as he stumbled into a wall. Startled by the sudden pain he blinked, raising his head just enough to meet Ramsay's gaze.

 

"This", he whispered, "is why I prefer Loras over you. He’d never hurt me. You can't just tell me to not see him again."

"Oh, I'm not  _ telling _ you anymore", a cruel smirk formed on Ramsay's lips, "I just  _ forced _ you. We will be attending breakfast with the king and queen tomorrow morning and you will go there as Alice. Does your face hurt?", he chuckled, "it looks like you’re going to have a black eye tomorrow. Now, fortunately for me, you built that little relationship of yours on lies, so please tell me; if David Snow and Alice Bolton are two different people, how likely is it that they get the exact same injury at the exact same time?"

As the meaning of his words sank in, David's eyes widened. He stared at Ramsay in pure disbelieve, "you- you're making me stay Alice by injuring my face."

"Glad to see you have some of your intelligence left."

 

"Why?", his throat seemed to tighten as hot tears began to run down his cheeks, "why can't you just let me be happy with him...?"

"I told you already. You belong to me. And I hate other people putting their filthy hands on my belongings."

 

This night David went to sleep sobbing and in pain. Ramsay had chosen a rather crude punishment for him- hitting and biting him until he was practically begging for mercy.  Apart from the bruise on his face though, Ramsay had acted like a proper abusive husband and only left marks in places that a dress would easily cover. When David rolled himself up, tucking the blanket closer, there was only one thought on his mind; he somehow would find a way to see Loras again no matter what pain it brought him.

  
  
  


"Lady Alice, may I ask what happened to your face?"

David avoided looking at the frowning Margaery and instead decided to stare at his barely touched breakfast. He had tried to cover the bruise on his face with his hair but the dark purple colour was still very noticeable, "I ran into a door."

"A door", Cersei Lannister raised one eyebrow and looked him up and down, "did that ‘door’ have a name?"

"No", David said slowly, "I just happen to be very clumsy. I once dropped a dagger into Ramsay's favourite...  _ toy _ ."

Ramsay smiled, pretending he was not boiling with rage, "Alice is telling the truth. She was a little tired yesterday and walked without looking."

 

David looked around the table. They were only a small group today, king and queen, the king's mother and of course Ramsay and him. He noticed Cersei still eyeing him suspiciously. The blonde woman did not seem to like him or Ramsay a lot, but he couldn't take her amiss. After all, Tommen was the only child left to her and it was hard to trust some strangers who declared their loyalty out of the blue.

As he scanned the people around the table his gaze found Margaery. The queen was wearing a beautiful dress with a rose pattern all over it, representing the banner of her house. He remembered that there always seemed to be a scent of roses on Loras and wondered briefly if his sister had the same odour.

 

"So", Margaery asked, "what are your plans for today, Alice?"

"I don't have any", David replied in honesty. All he wanted to do was hide away from everyone, except for Theon, maybe.

"I'm spending the afternoon with my brother and grandmother", the queen continued, "would you like to join us? Grandmother would love to meet you!"

 

The boy froze. There was nothing he would love more than to meet Olenna Tyrell, but he wasn't sure he would be able to act like 'Alice' around Loras when everything in him screamed to just kiss him. Plus he was not risking to wake Ramsay's wrath before he had a decent plan on how he would get back with the knight.

Ramsay, however, flashed a wide smile, "I am sure my wife would  _ very _ gladly join you today. Wouldn't you,  _ Alice _ ?"

The threatening glow in his eyes suggested that he wouldn't allow ‘no’ for an answer.

"Yes", David said, forcing himself to smile, "I'm looking forward to it."

  
  


He absolutely hated it. David was surrounded by three of the most wonderful people he had ever met and all he wanted to do was cry. Loras looked extremely sad, avoiding to look in his direction. It hurt to not be able to talk to him as he was used to.

Olenna Tyrell was just as amazing as he had imagined her to be. She looked him up and down, approved of him and offered him a lemon cake.

"You should hit him back, dear", she said, taking a bite of one of the small cakes.

David frowned, "hit back... whom?"

"The man who put that ugly bruise on your face", as he tried to reply, Olenna shushed him, "don't you dare give me that door story! Do you think I don't know what a strike to the face looks like? What did you do to upset your husband, hm?"

For a second he wasn't sure how to reply.

"We had an argument", he finally said, carefully picking out his words, "it was stupid, really. Just about... about  _ someone _ we don't share the same opinion on. But he didn't mean to, he immediately apologised for it."

"Of course he didn't mean to, they never do", Olenna shoved another cake towards him, "just make sure to hit him back next time. Scratch him with your nails, leave some marks. Men who hit their wives should be immediately recognisable as the filth they are."

 

"Grandmother!", Margaery gasped, "Alice told you it was an accident. I've heard Ramsay talk about her and he really loves her."

"Or maybe he's a good liar", Loras muttered.

Margaery sighed, "what a lovely conversation this is turning into. I'm sorry Alice, sometimes my family is a little... difficult."

"I don't mind", David said quickly as Olenna shot her granddaughter an outraged look, "my family is the same. If my brother dislikes someone he will complain about them for  _ days _ ."

 

At the mention of a brother, Loras quickly glanced over at him, sending a stinging pain through his heart. He wasn't even lying; back in his old life, his life before Ramsay, he had had a protective older brother and a sweet little sister who he loved more than anything. Suddenly he felt lonely, homesick. How long had it been since he had ended up in Westeros? Surely his family must be worried sick by now.

The queen frowned,  "Alice, are you alright? You're so pale all of sudden."

"I'm fine", he replied, blinking a few times, "I just... I guess I kind of miss my family, my parents. I wish they weren't so incredibly far away."

"Oh no, don't cry child", Olenna leaned over the table to take his hand in both of hers, "you are a brave girl if the things I hear about the Bolton family are true. You're not going to drop that bravery now because of a little homesickness, are you? Tell me, how old are you?"

"S-sixteen", the boy replied, taking a bite of his lemon cake in order to stop his lips from trembling.

 

"You're still young", the Queen of Thorns looked deep into his eyes, "this sounds harsh, but there will be many more times in your life when you will miss a loved one. Be it your children or the husband you claim is not hitting you on purpose. You will even lose people. But that's how life is; we can only make the best of it. So keep your head up and stay strong.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David has a plan that doesn't work out too well. Ramsay confronts him with a harsh truth

When David got back to his chambers he noticed a strong smell of roses clinging to his clothes. Apparently, all the Tyrells shared the same preferences in scents. It was probably possible to follow their steps by just sniffing for scents of rose in the air. And suddenly he had an idea.

He immediately sat down on a desk and helped himself to paper and ink, scribbling down the first things that came to his mind.

'Ramsay said I can't see you anymore. However, he didn't say I couldn't  _ write _ to you. Thank the gods I know someone who can easily find you to deliver a little message…’

When he felt like he'd written enough, he rolled the paper together and tied a ribbon around it. Afterwards, he quickly ran down to the yard of the keep where Ramsay's hounds had been given a small kennel, snatching a rose from a bush as he went, "Ram!"

The black dog instantly reacted to his call and came happily jumping forward.

"Hello my good little boy", David said, a large smile forming on his lips, "I have a very important job for you."

  
  
  


"You seem so happy", Ramsay noticed as they went to bed later, "a little  _ too _ happy. What did you do now?"

"Nothing", David grinned, cuddling up to him, "I just had a little fun with the dogs, that's all."

"How was the meeting with the queen's family?", Ramsay asked, raising an eyebrow, "I hope for you, you didn't fuck up with the boy."

David's smile fell, "I didn't. I did not even talk to him. But Olenna was nice. She told me that door story is stupid and I should hit you back."

A dangerous glow appeared in young Bolton's eyes, "if you ever so much as  _ think _ about hitting me you will regret it deeply.”

The boy gulped, "I'm aware. But that's not something I could have told her", he lazily traced his fingers over the man's chest, "how are your plans going? Any news concerning the High Sparrow or the wildfire below the city?"

Ramsay smirked, "there is no wildfire below the city anymore. Found the alchemists and convinced them that the king views their supply as a safety hazard and that they should remove it immediately. About that cult guy... working on it. He has too many followers to just walk up to him and kill him."

"I'm sure you can manage", David shrugged, "wow I'm tired, let's go to sleep, good night!"

 

"Hey, not so fast! I wasn't done with you yet", Ramsay wrapped his arms around the boy's waist, pulling him onto his lap. David took a better look at him, noticing the faint smell of alcohol radiating from him and the way his eyes were slightly darker than usual and strangely clouded.

"You've been drinking quite a lot since we got to King's Landing", he said with a frown, "you barely get tipsy at home, so why does it happen so often down here?"

Ramsay shrugged, "guess the Southern wine just tastes too good. I’m not completely drunk, so who cares?”

"You get more touchy when you drink", David stated.

"What makes you think so?"

"Your hand is on my butt."

The smirk on the man's lips widened, "am I making you uncomfortable?"

David just let out a long sigh, "whatever it is that you want to do, be quick about it. I'm tired."

"That's not very romantic", Ramsay pouted playfully, "I want a kiss."

 

"A kiss. that's it?"

"Yup."

"Fine", David crossed his arms, "go ahead and kiss me. It's not like you will leave me alone if say no.”

Ramsay chuckled, "exactly. Come closer."

David felt his chest ache a second time that day as he noticed how soft Ramsay's kisses were. He was trying badly to find a difference, a tiny detail that was off- but he was painfully aware how similar this felt to kissing Loras. He made an attempt to back away, feeling Ramsay grin against his lips.

"What`s wrong? Am I being  _ too _ gentle now?", he tilted his head, "you said you like Loras because he wouldn’t hurt you, so I tried very hard to treat you with more caution. Am I doing this right, is this how he’d do it?”

 

"Why are you doing this?", David asked, "what's your point? You already made sure I won't meet him again too soon."

"I'm making sure altogether", Ramsay grimaced, "knowing you, you're going to find a loophole."

"You would hurt me if I did."

"And it's not going to stop you", the young Bolton let out a sigh, "I'll have to think about a way to end all of this once and for all. But first I’ll have to get the important business done.”

"Does this mean I can go to sleep now?", David yawned, "yes? Great. Good night."

Ramsay rolled his eyes but allowed him to curl up and drift off into sleep. Stroking a strand of hair out of his forehead he whispered, "if I didn’t need you, I would have killed you a long time ago.”

  
  
  


A few days later news reached the Red Keep that the High Sparrow had gone missing. Just the next morning, however, he was found, throat opened from ear to ear. His upper body was stripped naked, the skin on his back flayed in the shape of an X. At dinner on that evening, Tommen declared in shock how he couldn't image who would have done such a thing. Everyone else just glared at Ramsay, who was smiling happily.

"This man was dangerous", David stated, "people tend to blindly follow radical religious people like that. He could have brought more damage to the city than he already has. May I remind you what his believes did to the Queen Mother?"

Cersei eyed him distrustfully, "you do have a point. He could have manipulated the king if he wouldn't have been stopped."

 

The topic was dropped then and not picked up again for the rest of the evening. Only when they all parted to head for their bedrooms did Cersei approach David.

"I'm glad that man is dead", she said in a low voice, "but it does not make you or your husband any more trustworthy. There is a reason you are here, I know that. And I will find out what it is."

David gave her a smile, "the reason we're here, Lady Cersei, is because we swore loyalty to the king. That's all there is to know."

Without waiting for a reply he turned and walked towards the kennels. On the way he was silently smiling to himself; he had been exchanging letters with Loras for a while now, sending a new message every afternoon and receiving one every evening. His dog had learned to just go back to the kennels whenever Loras attached a letter to his collar, so David made a habit to check the dogs after dinner.

 

The message he awaited this day was an important one; the bruise on his face had finally healed down so he had asked Loras to meet him. When he had told Theon, the latter was visibly concerned but agreed to help him sneak out while Ramsay was busy. David was nervous about the whole plan but he told himself that everything would work out somehow. And then he bumped into Ramsay.

The young Bolton's face was totally calm, expressing no emotions at all. His pale eyes, however, sparkled with cruel amusement.

"Where are you going?", he asked casually.

"To the kennels", David replied, trying to not sound nervous, "just checking if the dogs are alright."

"Is there a reason for that?", Ramsay asked, "perhaps you're looking for this?"

 

He reached out his hand. David froze in place as he pushed the wrapped-up piece of paper into his hands. He unrolled it with shaky hands, immediately recognising Loras' handwriting.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed by the effort you're putting up for some pretty knight. I'm not even mad!", he flashed sweet smile, "in fact, I think you definitely should meet him again one more time."

David carefully took a step back, clutching the letter to his chest, "...why?"

"So you can tell him that you will never talk to him again", Ramsay's smile turned into a smirk, "you made up that whole twin story, didn't you? So you’ll tell him the following; David Snow is leaving King's Landing and heading back to Winterfell. He will never see Ser Loras in person again."

"No", the boy glared up at him, "I won't. You can hurt me all you want but I won't say it. I-"

"You what? Love him?", Ramsay chuckled, "very sweet. Is that why you still haven't told him the truth?"

He circled him, brushing his hands over the soft fabric of David's dress, "there is an issue with your little 'relationship' you shouldn’t forget about. He loves men, you said so yourself."

"I-I am one."

"You view yourself as a man, that's true", Ramsay stopped in front of him, "Reek views you as one as well. Even I got used to addressing you as 'he'. But deep down you know that Loras wants someone with a male body."

 

David tried to reply but Ramsay stopped him by putting a finger to his mouth, "I know what you're thinking. If it's 'true love' he will overlook this and accept you the way you are. But let's be a little more realistic. You built your relationship on one huge lie. Do you really think he will simply forgive you for that?"

David stayed silent. He lowered his head, blinking away the tears welling up in his eyes. Somewhere in his heart, he knew Ramsay was right, but he had been in denial over this ever since he first developed feelings for Loras. A tiny part of him had always hoped that everything would turn out just fine in the end.

Ramsay stroked his cheek in a gesture of comfort, "you're going to get your heart broken eventually, little one. It's easier that way.”

Suddenly he couldn't hold back his tears any longer, rubbing his eyes, "I just... I just wanted to feel loved."

"I know", Ramsay said in a soothing tone, "I'm not mad at you. Just meet him, say goodbye and we can forget about this whole situation. Can you do that?"

David hesitated. Then he slowly nodded, not looking up, "I'll meet him and... and tell him I won't see him again."

"Good boy", Ramsay put on a pleased smile, "I knew you'd come to your senses. After all... you'd never be able to be with anyone but me."


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David is forced to say goodbye

David couldn't help but burst into tears the second he saw Loras. The knight frowned, immediately worried, "is everything alright?"

"I'm fine", he said, his voice cracking, "I... Loras, we have to talk."

Loras cupped his face, "please tell me what's wrong. We can work it out for sure."

"No we can't", he took a deep breath, "w-we can't meet anymore. Ramsay is sending me back to Winterfell."

Loras' eyes widened, "you're leaving the city? But... we could still write letters..?"

David choked down a sob, shaking his head, "I-I don't think we should."

The hurt look in the knight's eyes made him feel sick, "why not?"

 

David knew the words. He had repeated them over and over in his head before he had gone to meet Loras. But suddenly he wasn't able to force them out anymore.

"Loras... you're one of the sweetest people I've ever met", his voice shook at every word, "but... but I'm not what you're looking for. You deserve s-someone better."

Loras blinked, obviously confused, "someone better? But you're perfect!"

"I'm not!", David actually managed to smile through his tears, "b-believe me.. I'm not. I can't explain, just... I know we're not meant to be. One day you're going to find someone who's able to give you all the love you deserve. But that person is not going to be me."

The Knight of Flowers was silent for a moment. David's heart ached as he noticed how his eyes filled with tears.

 

"If this is really how you're feeling... I will respect your decision", Loras said finally, "...I will miss you."

"I will miss you too Loras", David wiped the tears off his face, "I don’t think I could ever find someone like you again.”

"Will you allow me to kiss you one last time?"

The boy nodded. He stood quietly as the young knight wrapped his arms around him. Gentle as ever he placed his lips on David's. He could feel the other trembling. After a few moments, he took a step back.

"I guess this is goodbye then", Loras said.

David simply nodded, "goodbye Loras. I hope you find someone to make you happy."

 

When he got back to Ramsay the young Bolton pulled him into an embrace, "I am very proud of you. And I forgive you for defying me."

David did not reply. He didn't protest when Ramsay undressed him. He didn't complain when he put a nightgown on him. And he did not so much as flinch when Ramsay tossed his boy’s clothes into their room’s fireplace.

"I understand now", he whispered as they went to sleep, "it's not possible for 'Alice' and 'David' to exist in the same place. In King's Landing, there is no person called David Snow."

 

 

 

When David had first seen King's Landing, he had fallen in love with it. He would have never thought how bad he was able to miss Winterfell.

Somehow the city's beauty seemed dull when he was constantly uncomfortable. Now that Ramsay had burned his clothes, he was left wearing nothing but dresses; one more petite and delicate than the other. It hadn't bothered him at first when his mind was occupied with thoughts of Loras but slowly he felt himself getting more self-conscious and insecure about his appearance.

And so he soon began damaging and dirtying his clothes on purpose, doing everything to get a chance of undressing. He would take walks in the godswood with Theon, voluntarily walking into tree branches and tripping over stones to fall to the dirty ground. Theon did his best to comfort him but without any men’s clothes to offer that was barely possible.

One morning he felt especially pained at the sight of his clothes and started begging.

 

"Don't you think we should go back to Winterfell soon?", he asked, trying to make it sound as casual as possible.

"Why?", Ramsay asked, "it was your suggestion to come here and I'm not done with Tommen yet."

"We've been here for quite a while now", David replied, "I'm getting homesick..."

He unconsciously pulled at the laces of his dress, staring at them with an unhappy frown. Ramsay followed his gaze and grinned, "you want to go home because then you won't have to look feminine."

The boy looked up at him, "I feel horrible. Please, the sooner we get back, the sooner I can finally forget about all of this."

 

And then Ramsay said the most horrific thing he could possibly imagine, driving tears to his eyes, "who said you could stop wearing dresses when we get home?"

"No..", he whimpered, "Ramsay please don't make me. This whole pretending thing is physically exhausting me. I can't keep doing this, it- it isn't me! Please..."

The young Bolton stepped closer to him. He gently cupped his face, stroking his cheek with his thumb, "I won't do such a thing if you don’t upset me. But as long as we're here you will not drop your role. And we won't be leaving anytime soon."

 


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theon falls back into his Reek personality. David gets angry at Ramsay and does something he regrets deeply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning: this chapter includes some non con elements. More offscreen than really explicit but I feel like a warning might be appropriate

David soon noticed that all of them seemed to develop new habits at King's Landing. Theon’s was drinking to gain confidence, Ramsay’s was always drinking just a little too much and David’s was isolating himself and taking walks alone, too exhausted even to keep up a conversation with Theon anymore. Usually, he used the afternoon to roam around the Red Keep, getting lost in his own thoughts. Sometimes an hour of time alone was all he needed, sometimes he’d wander off until it was time to attend dinner.

On this particular day, the king had thrown a feast, with dozens of guests, the crowded hall making David so anxious he needed another walk right afterwards. Ramsay hadn't been too happy about it, but when he had promised to get back soon he dismissed him.

As David made his way through the Keep he suddenly heard the faint barking of dogs. Curiously he approached the kennels; only to run into Margaery on the way.

 

"Alice, there you are!", the queen said, a slightly concerned expression on her face, "I think we may need your help."

"What's wrong?", David asked, "is it the dogs? I'm sure they just saw a cat or something, they will calm down soon."

"That's not the issue", Margaery put a hand on his shoulder, "it's about Theon. A guard found him at the kennels, it seems like he’s had some sort of breakdown, out of the blue. He won’t calm down.”

Immediately the alarm bells in David's head rang. Without hesitation, he sprinted past Margaery and towards the kennels. A wave of guilt ran over him; he’d been so busy drowning in self-pity he hadn't even noticed Theon having his own problems.

 

When he reached him, there were several people surrounding him; a few servants, Cersei and Loras. Theon was laying on the ground, curled up and clutching his head. He stammered random word phrases that David wasn't able to understand until he got closer.

"Theon?", he asked carefully, kneeling down in front of the man, "Theon what's wrong?"

"Not Theon", the man whimpered, voice shaking, "Reek. M-my name is Reek. Not Theon, please!"

"No", David shook his head, reaching out to get his attention, "you're not Reek. Shh, calm down. You're  _ not _ Reek. Your name is Theon Greyjoy."

Theon only wildly shook his head, continuing to ramble. As David's mind rushed to find a way to comfort him, he heard a voice behind him, "step aside. Maybe I can try and help here."

 

He looked up over his shoulder, glaring at Ramsay who was just emptying a cup of wine, "no. You stay where you are, you're  _ not _ helpful."

Returning his attention to Theon he gave the young Greyjoy's shoulders a firm shake, "Theon! Look at me!"

A pair of ocean coloured wild eyes found his blue gaze, trying to focus.

"David", he mumbled, furrowing his brows in an attempt to sort his puzzled thoughts, "you're- you can't be. The clothes are wrong. Pretty but not happy. You shouldn't be wearing this."

"Theon it's me", he cupped the trembling man's face, "focus on my face,  _ only  _ my face. And listen to me. You're Theon Greyjoy, not Reek. Nobody is going to harm you. Everything is alright. You're safe."

And suddenly Theon burst into tears. Pulling him closer he tried to soothe him, whispering soft reassurance as he stroked the thin back.

 

Behind him Ramsay let out an annoyed sigh, "this is leading nowhere. I'll handle this."

As he stepped closer Theon froze in David's arms, shaking even harder than before. His concern turned into fury and a moment later he was on his feet, glaring daggers at his husband.

"Don't you  _ dare  _ get any closer!", he snarled, "you're not helping and you know so! Leave him alone, he’s got enough trouble already! He's having a  _ breakdown _ for fuck’s sake, why do you always need to make things worse?! So  _ please _ , for the love of gods, do me a favour and just  _ fuck _ off Ramsay!"

Ramsay shot him a startled look which quickly turned into an enraged snarl, "are you telling me what to do? This is ridiculous, get out of my way."

 

He grabbed David's wrist to shove him aside and the boy’s instinct took over. The noise seemed to echo across the yard. Everything around them had gone silent, even Theon's wailing. In shock over his own action, David stared at the bright red handmark forming on Ramsay's pale cheek. Piercing pale eyes locked on him and suddenly he was babbling as bad as Theon.

"I-I didn't mean to", he stammered in horror, "I’m s-sorry Ramsay, I just- I didn't want to do this, please-"

The words got stuck in his throat as Ramsay pulled him closer, looking down at him with the most furious expression he had ever seen. A shiver ran down his spine as the man lowly growled the two most terrifying tiny words between grit teeth, "bad. Mistake."

 

And then the ground under his feet disappeared. While David was still frozen in terror Ramsay threw him over his shoulder and began walking towards their chambers.

"Ramsay please", he whimpered, not daring to do so much as struggle, "I-I shouldn't have done that I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!"

Ramsay didn't respond, did not even show any sign he had heard him as he continued his way. Once they reached the chambers he unceremoniously dropped him down, locking the door behind himself.

David was fighting back tears, looking up at him with pleading blue eyes, "w-what are you going to do...?"

His mind rushed as he went through all the ways Ramsay could hurt him. Would it be a whipping? He had feared this punishment ever since experiencing it for the first time. Or maybe he’d flay him. Or break a bone. Or cut him with a knife. Or simply beat him up. He was almost getting dizzy from the panicked wave of thoughts flooding his head.

Ramsay flashed a toothy smirk. In this moment he barely looked human; the sadistic glee in his eyes giving him the expression of a ferocious beast stalking its prey, "something I should have done way sooner."

He took a second to look around the room, gesturing, "this place does look quite  _ classy _ , don't you think?"

 

As the meaning of his words sank in David shook his head in disbelief, slowly backing away, "...no. No, you don't mean  _ that _ . Please tell me you don't mean it."

Instead of replying Ramsay grabbed him and started tearing at the fabric of his dress. David struggled in his grip, kicking around and pleading, "No! Ramsay please, I said I'm sorry! I-I'll do everything, please, I beg you!"

Ignoring the pathetic attempts Ramsay continued his work until the dress lay on the ground, completely torn to shreds. He lifted him up like he weighed nothing.

 

As David was tossed onto the bed the tears began to run freely down his cheeks, a choked scream escaping his throat. Before he could even try to get away Ramsay was on top of him, pinning him down. The Bastard of Bolton leaned down and slowly but forcefully bit down on the boy's neck.

"Go ahead", he chuckled lowly, hot alcohol-scented breath hitting David's skin, "keep begging and crying and struggling. Nobody will come here and save you. If anything, it makes this more entertaining for me.”

By then David was sobbing, his breath growing heavy as he began to hyperventilate.

"Please", he whimpered, staring up into cold pale eyes, "Ramsay stop! Do-don't do this! Please, Ram-!"

  
  
  


He was standing on a small balcony, clutching the parapet as he stared down. The Red Keep was quiet, the feast over and most people had gone to sleep. The sky was cloudless, stars lighting up the night.

David was in pain. He felt weirdly dull, not able to focus his thoughts on anything at all. Tears were still rolling down his face and dripping onto the ground below him. He tugged at his nightgown, looking down past the parapet. For a second he thought about what would happen if he just leaned over far enough to fall.

Then there were footsteps behind him and the thought was gone. He quickly looked over his shoulder meeting the curious gaze of Cersei Lannister.

"Judging by that look I assume Bolton finally dropped his facade of an oh-so-loving husband”, she said, “is it the first time that happened?”

 

David slowly nodded, looking down on himself. Warm blood was dripping down the inside of his thighs, mixed with another substance that made his stomach turn in disgust. His hair was a mess, his eyes were puffy and red from crying.

Cersei let out a sigh and reached out a cup of wine to him, "here. This will numb your mind for a while."

David hesitated, "I... I don't drink."

“It’s time to start then. It helps."

As she pushed the cup in his hand he eyed it suspiciously before gulping it down in one big sip. The alcohol tasted bitter, burning in his throat, but he couldn't care less anymore, "...thank you."

"I'm not doing this out of sympathy", Cersei said, "but I hate violent husbands more than I dislike you.”

David blinked a few times, wiping tears from his cheeks, “Robert Baratheon. You… have experienced it."

 

It was no question, it was a statement. The Lannister woman nodded, "Robert was a horrendous husband. He didn’t treat me any different from a common whore, I despised him.”

“R-Ramsay isn't like that", David muttered, "he's... he just drank too much. A-and.. it’s my own fault, he’s always been kind and I- I screwed up on so many things.”

"Keep telling yourself that's true if it helps", Cersei moved closer, looking out at the sky, "I still remember my wedding night with Robert. When you're a girl they always tell you it's a wonderful experience. He completely ruined it. He had the audacity to call out the wrong name as he was on top of me,  _ inside _ of me."

A shiver ran down David's spine while a muffled sob made its way up his throat. A piercing pale gaze popped up in his mind and he rubbed his eyes to make it disappear.

 

"Myranda", he whispered, "that- that's what Ramsay said when he- he..."

He bit his lip, unable to finish his sentence. Cersei looked at him.

"Come with me", she suddenly said, “there’s no point in going back to his bed tonight.”

David frowned in confusion, "w-where are we going?"

A small smile appeared on the former queen's lips, "I'm dropping you off at the Greyjoy boy's room. I don’t have the time or patience to comfort you, so he can do so instead.”

Theon was wide awake when David entered the room. He only took a single look at him before pulling him into a hug. The instant his arms wrapped around the boy, the latter began sobbing uncontrollably, burying his face in the man's chest. Cersei ordered a servant to bring them some fresh water and Theon gently helped David clean up. Even as his body was scrubbed clean, the awful feeling of disgust lingered on him. That night the two of them were laying in each others arms, not getting a lot of sleep as David kept waking up from nightmares, screaming and crying.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath

In the morning David could raise his voice barely above a whisper. His throat was sore, making it almost impossible to speak. Ramsay was late for breakfast so Cersei took the free seat next to him, placing a cup of wine in front of him.

"Lady Alice, are you alright?", Tommen asked, brows furrowed in worry, "you don’t look too good.”

"She's a little sick", Theon replied for him.

"Oh, I see", Tommen gave a reassuring smile, "I'm sure it's nothing that time won't fix."

David was not so certain about that. When Ramsay finally arrived in the hall the boy immediately froze in his chair. He didn't dare to look up at him, just staring down at his untouched plate of food.

 

"I am very sorry for being late", the young Bolton said, with a lighthearted chuckle, “I seem to have had a drink too many at yesterday's feast."

He frowned as he realised his usual seat was taken, "Lady Cersei, shouldn't I be sitting next to my dear wife?"

"No", Cersei replied dryly, "you may sit on the other side of the table."

Ramsay didn't look too pleased with that but he did not complain. When he sat down his gaze found the cup of wine in front of David, "I thought you don't drink, Alice?"

“Only on fitting occasions", he muttered, his voice cracking mid-sentence. He took a sip from the cup, coughing at the strange taste of the alcohol.

 

Afterwards, they all ate in silence. Margaery looked like she had a few questions, but given David's current state she seemed to believe it was best to not ask them now. Once they were done and everyone moved on with their day, David stayed seated. He was not sure what to do and where to go; after a sleepless night he would have preferred to just go back to his comfortable bed, but he doubted that he would have any more luck getting rest now.

A shiver ran down his spine as Ramsay walked around the table and approached him, "where have you been, love? I woke up this morning and you were gone."

David barely raised his head, looking up at him from underneath his bangs, "..'ve been with Theon."

"Why?", Ramsay asked, "was there a problem in staying with me?"

As the boy didn't reply, he reached out to touch him. David immediately flinched away, letting out a terrified whimper. At that Ramsay frowned, "are you scared of me?"

“What did you expect?", he whispered, trembling. He could feel tears rising up in his eyes and quickly wiped them away.

Ramsay tilted his head, "why? This is by far not the worst thing I’ve done to you.”

 

Instead of replying, David further backed away from him, leaning onto Theon for comfort.

“Oh, you’re not talking to me?", Ramsay laughed, “so what, are you going to avoid me now until we return to Winterfell?”

David slowly shook his head, lowering his head even more as warm tears ran down his cheeks, "I-I don't know. I'm tired, I want to sleep.”

Before either of them could say anything else, Theon wrapped his arms around the shaking boy, turning him away from Ramsay, "hey, let's go on a walk, yeah? Maybe some fresh air will make you feel a little better. And staying away from  _ him _ ", he glared over at Ramsay.

“Is someone getting confident now?", Ramsay mocked him, "perhaps you've been  _ Theon _ for too long?”

 

Theon paid him no mind, helping David stand up and leading him out of the room. David struggled to stand up straight, his body still hurting all over.

"Don't provoke him", he whispered, "he will hurt you. I don't want him to hurt you."

“I’ll be fine", Theon said, shrugging, "I honestly don’t think there’s anything he hasn’t done already to hurt me. And he can’t do anything too bad while we’re here, in King’s Landing I’m Theon, not Reek.”

David furrowed his brows, trying to follow his way of thinking.

"You confuse me", he muttered, "I'm tired."

Theon eyed him, "maybe you should try to rest a little. I’m sure you won’t have any more nightmares.”

“I will", David whispered, "I know so."

Theon frowned, "they can't stay forever, can they?"

  
  
  


Three days passed in which Theon kept David away from Ramsay as good as he could. Three days in which David barely slept. At some point, he was just constantly exhausted, desperate to get some dreamless, lasting sleep for once. He was feeling miserable.

Theon tried everything in his power to calm him from nightmares, even went to Cersei for help but nothing seemed to work. One afternoon Theon and Cersei were sitting in the yard, David resting his head on Theon's lap as they once again tried to find a way to get David to finally sleep.

 

"Have you tried milk of the poppy yet?", Cersei asked.

Theon nodded, letting out a sigh of exhaustion, "slept for about five minutes longer than usual", he groaned in frustration, "this is leading absolutely nowhere."

"Maybe Ramsay can help", David muttered quietly.

"He's the problem, not the solution", Cersei stated, "don't tell me you forgive him?"

"I don't", David whined, "but he may be able to help!"

Theon frowned down at him, "what makes you think so?"

"He's calmed me down before when I had nightmares."

"But we tried it the same way", Theon gently ruffled his hair, "it didn't work."

"You aren’t him.”

 

"Be careful", Cersei said slowly, "keep in mind what he did to you."

"I haven't forgotten", David said miserably, his voice cracking, "and I haven't forgiven him. But I'm  _ exhausted _ . All I want is to sleep and… and I miss sleeping in his arms.”

Cersei suddenly gave him an almost sad look, "that’s not how you should be thinking. Maybe he’s influenced you to a point where you depend on him. Then you won’t be capable of truly hating him.”

"Hating who?", David almost jumped as he heard a too familiar voice behind himself. He shifted in Theon's lap to meet a pair of pale eyes and immediately started crying.

 

"You", he muttered, struggling out of Theon's grip to stand in front of Ramsay. He felt like a wall inside of him broke down and suddenly the words burst from his lips before he could even think about them. 

"I- I'm sorry Ramsay", he whimpered, "I should never have yelled at you or hit you, I'm sorry. I don’t forgive you b-but I… I want to forget about everything, pretend it never happened… I’m so tired!

I have awful nightmares that constantly keep me awake. I haven't slept for three days. I'm hurt and I'm so exhausted and d-desperate...", he sank to his knees, staring up with pleading eyes, "help me, Ramsay. I need you."

Ramsay looked at him in silence, not having expected such an outburst. Then, slowly, he kneeled down in front of him, opening his arms, "come here, little one. I'll keep you safe.”

David did not think anymore as his brain went on autopilot. He leaned against Ramsay's chest in gratitude, warm arms wrapping around him. Ramsay picked up the trembling boy, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. David fell asleep before they even reached their chambers, for the first time in three days without a single nightmare.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When hit with too many feelings at once, David reaches his limits

David only woke up when someone gently shook his shoulder, "we have to get up, sweetling. It's dinnertime."

He let out a yawn and slowly opened his blue eyes to meet a pair of pale ones. Immediately he backed away, bumping against the bed’s headboard with a whimper, “ow!”

Ramsay rolled his eyes, "what are you doing?”

"You- you startled me", David blurted out, clutching his aching head while further backing away, "you were so close and I just… panicked.”

"I was not trying to _ rape _ you, I was just trying to wake you up!", Ramsay sighed, "come on, we’re gonna miss dinner if you don’t hurry up.”

 

David took a deep breath to calm himself. He realised he was trembling and quickly averted his gaze from the man, "I-I'll get ready in a minute."

Ramsay tilted his head in confusion, "why are you so scared all of sudden? I’m not doing anything.”

"Forget about it", the boy blinked rapidly as he felt tears welling up in his eyes, "I only turned to you for help because I was so tired, but now that I’ve had some sleep, I guess I’m just… afraid you'll hurt me again. But I have been for the past three days so don’t mind me.”

Ramsay simply looked at him in silence. Then he took a deep breath, "listen, what happened was a mistake, I shouldn’t have done it. It was meant as a punishment, maybe to scare you a  _ little  _ bit but not completely terrify you. I know I can’t change it anymore but you can’t keep avoiding me, people will start questioning it. So I want to make you an offer”, he flashed a smile, "you will keep up that happy attitude people seem to love and I  _ swear  _ by the old gods and the new I won’t harm you again as long as we’re in the city.”

David eyed him, "...you want me to pretend as if nothing happened."

"Exactly."

 

The boy gulped, "I’m not sure if I can do that. I… I can’t just erase it from my memory. I can barely look at you.”

“It’s your choice”, Ramsay shrugged, “play along and I won’t touch you. Keep avoiding me and you can fight your nightmares without me”, David flinched as the man reached out a hand to cup his cheek but the soothing tone of Ramsay’s voice stopped him from backing further away, “I will be good to you, little one. All you have to do is put on a little smile. Can you do that for me?”

David looked into his eyes and hated himself as the words stumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. There was something about Ramsay- maybe the sincere look in his eyes, maybe the sugary sweet tone of his voice- that kept luring him back in even though everything inside of him screamed to get away from him, “yes, Ramsay.”

"Good boy", Ramsay flashed a big smile, "now get dressed."

  
  
  


David didn't know how but he managed to put on a happy smile as they sat down in the dining hall. Cersei shot him a curious look but didn't say anything.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better", Tommen said.

"I am too", David replied, "I've... just been a little sick lately."

He kept up a light conversation but slowly felt himself growing tired again. Apparently, the little nap he had had didn't make up for the sleep he lost over the last few days and he soon found himself leaning onto Ramsay's shoulder and closing his eyes.

"Lady Alice?", Margaery asked slowly, "are you alright?"

"Mh", David nodded, yawning, "just tired."

"The poor girl has had a few restless days", Ramsay said sympathetically, wrapping an arm around him, "I'm sure a little sleep is all she needs and she'll be back to normal in no time."

The boy didn't really try to fight the urge to fall asleep. He was too exhausted to stay awake anyway, and at least this way he didn’t have to deal with the nightmares haunting him when he was wide awake.

 

At some point of the evening, Ramsay must have carried him to their room because the next time he woke up David was back in his bed, wrapped into a blanket and cuddled up to the way too comfortable chest of his husband. For a few minutes, he kept his eyes closed, simply taking in the soft rise and fall of the man's chest and the quiet sound of his rhythmic breathing.

All of sudden a wave of memories flooded his mind. But they weren’t memories of that one horrific night. No, the image in his mind was a different one. He saw himself, on the day of his wedding, looking at the awfully beautiful dress he was supposed to wear. Then his thoughts wandered to the beginning of their journey and the red laced dress Ramsay had given him. And finally he remembered the night he had watched Ramsay burn his clothes in the fireplace, the day he had said goodbye to Loras.

Ramsay woke up to the sound of tiny sobs next to him.

 

"What’s wrong?", he asked in a low sleepy voice, rubbing his eyes, "another nightmare?"

David shook his head, wiping tears from his face, "it's... nothing. Nothing of importance. Sorry for waking you."

Ramsay sighed, but didn't sound very angry, "we have to get up for breakfast anyway, so we might as well get dressed right away."

At that, David's stomach turned. He knew that once he got up there’d be another pretty dress waiting for him to wear it. He knew he would put it on and feel terrible, but he would not complain. It would make no difference, Ramsay would only remind him that he wasn’t allowed to drop his role and he did not want to find out what would happen if he disobeyed. So all he could do was to take a deep breath and prey he’d be able to endure this for another day.

  
  
  


To his surprise, Olenna Tyrell had decided to join breakfast that morning. She narrowed her eyes at Ramsay as they entered the room, seemingly not too pleased to see him sit down next to David.

"Did you scratch him, child?", she asked the boy.

He frowned at her in confusion, "...excuse me?"

"We talked about what you should do if, well,  _ someone _ hurts you. Leave your marks. So, did you? And don't lie to me, I see it written all over your face that something happened recently."

"I... uh..", David was trying to find the right words. He was aware Olenna wouldn't believe any lie he told, so he just shook his head, "...no."

"Too bad", Olenna glared at Ramsay for a second, then focused her attention back on David, "would have made him look better."

 

Ramsay smiled but his eyes looked like he would have enjoyed strangling the old woman.

Olenna took a sip from her cup, ignoring Ramsay, "did you at least hit him back?"

David was at a loss of words. There was no possible reply he could give that would put a peaceful end to this awful conversation. To his relief, Margaery took that burden from him, "grandmother, we're eating breakfast. Please don't talk about such things as hitting people."

Olenna rolled her eyes but continued eating in silence. Margaery looked at David, "I am just very glad to see you're still getting better, Alice. But... I have a question and I hoped you or Theon could answer it for me. It's about that evening down at the kennels.”

David gulped, noticing how Theon tensed up next to him as well, "what is it, Your Grace?"

Margaery flashed a sincere smile, "when you tried to calm Theon, he called you a name. What was it again…? David? I'm just wondering where that came from."

David froze. He barely recalled that part of the day; his mind kept wandering to the more painful part.

 

"I can explain, actually", Theon said quickly, faking a smile, "you must know, Lady Alice has a twin brother, David. In my panic I must have confused the two of them. After all, they look very much alike. Isn’t that right, my lady?”

He looked at David, clearly expecting him to adapt and agree to the story. It would have been easy to just nod and play along. Theon's explanation was logical, nobody would question it further. He wanted to say the words, he really did.

But instead he shook his head, warm tears forming in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks, "I'm sorry. I- I appreciate your effort Theon but... I can't. I can't do this anymore."

 

He was aware everyone was staring at him. He was aware Ramsay did not at all like what he was saying. But he couldn't care less at this moment.

"Theon called me David because that's my name", he said quietly, "Alice is the name I was born with, that much is true. But I absolutely hate it. I hate looking pretty and wearing dresses and living in this damned female body. I didn't ask to be born a girl. That isn't  _ me _ . But sometimes life is cruel and people are born in a body of the wrong gender and I'm sick of pretending everything is alright. I’m not a girl and acting like one makes me want to die.”

The whole table was completely silent. Even the servants rushing around them had come to a halt to listen. David simply stared at his plate, scared to meet anyone's gaze. The one to finally break the silence was Olenna.

 

"So the child wants to be a boy", she said, "there are worse things in the world. That short hair makes you look like one anyway, dear. Margaery my girl, maybe it's a good idea if you take  _ him _ to a tailor later. He can't possibly keep walking around in dresses now can he?", David raised his head to look at her in utter amazement and Olenna simply shrugged, taking a sip from her cup, "stop crying child, men don't cry."

"It that true?", Tommen asked, his eyes wide with amazement, "that you’d rather be a man?”

David nodded, "yeah. W-where I'm from that happens sometimes. But I'm aware it's... it's not usual in Westeros."

"This is incredible", Tommen smiled, "I've never heard of that! You have to tell me more about this and what it’s like! So... you want to be called David then?"

"Y-yes Your Grace."

"Okay, David! Then I think everyone should call you that from now on."

Later on, he couldn't have said who of them looked more confused in this moment; David or Ramsay. Ramsay simply stared at the king, dropping his jaw.

"Well", Theon said, "that's a reaction I didn't expect", he grinned at David, "it was about time for you to get some new clothes.”

  
  
  


Later that day David happily made his way around the Keep in a brand new tunic and breeches. The clothes were different from his old ones, they had more of a Southern style to them. The fabric had a light blue colour matching his eyes, patterned with grey swirls and cross shaped stitches.

"How do you feel?", Margaery had asked when he put on his new clothes.

"Fantastic", David had replied, "better than I have in a very long time.”

Ramsay still didn't seem too happy about the sudden change. He kept frowning at David's new clothes, "you could have just agreed with Reek's story. Why didn't you do that?"

"I couldn't", David muttered, "I just... couldn't."

"I could strangle you sometimes."

 

At that, a shiver went down the boy's spine.

"I think if I would have kept wearing dresses", he whispered, "you wouldn't have had a chance to do so because I would have killed myself."

Ramsay narrowed his eyes, "you wouldn't have."

"I would have", David couldn't bring himself to look into his eyes, "believe me, when you feel so incredibly wrong all the time you start to get desperate.”

"Well, you’re fine now", Ramsay shrugged, shaking his head, "I don't understand how, but you somehow always seem to get what you want."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of felt bad after I sent David through hell and back in chapter 20, so this here was sort of my apology, not only to him but to that one friend of mine who reads this story and yelled at me for giving her mixed feelings about David. So uh, I hope this equals it out a little and sorry for letting my inner Bolton take over whenever I write fanfiction


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David and Ramsay talk about hurt feelings.

For a few days David felt like things were going just great for him. He got a few new clothes in bright colours, got addressed with male pronouns and spent a lot of time wandering around as well as eating lemon cakes with Margaery and Olenna. However, now that his mind was free of dysphoria his thoughts kept wandering to the things Ramsay had done to him. He felt like throwing up every time he remembered even the smallest bits of that night but as much as he tried, he couldn’t forget.

As time passed by he felt more and more uncomfortable around Ramsay. He could barely look at him and flinched every time he touched him. If Ramsay noticed, he didn't say anything. And then one evening things got too much for the boy.

David had laid down on the bed, willing to go to sleep as Ramsay suddenly pulled him onto his lap.

 

"What are you doing?", he asked, frowning.

"I'm bored", Ramsay replied with a lopsided grin, "haven't kissed you in a long time."

The boy immediately froze, "you said you wouldn't hurt me again as long as we're here.”

"I wasn’t going to!", Ramsay tilted his head, "I just told you, I only want to kiss you. It's not like that's the first time."

David gulped, "...fine."

Ramsay leaned in and kissed him. David did his best to kiss back as expected from him. It wasn't different from the usual; one of Ramsay's hands rested on the boy's hip while the other cupped his cheek to pull him closer. His touches weren't rough at all- and still, David couldn't stop his body from trembling.

 

The man only pulled back as he noticed warm tears dripping down onto his hand. He frowned at David, obviously confused, "...why are you crying? I didn't even do anything."

David tried to speak but all that escaped his lips was a whimper. He hid his face behind his hands and began to sob uncontrollably. Ramsay touched his shoulder, but the gesture only made him wince and cry even harder.

"David", Ramsay gave his best to keep his voice low and soothing, "I'm not going to hurt you. Everything is fine, you were doing so well. There's no reason for you to cry."

"I'm s-s-sorry", David whimpered, "I just- it's too much. Everytime you touch me I’m s-scared you’ll hurt me again”, he bit down hard on his lip in an attempt to calm down, the copper taste of blood filling his mouth, "I-I'm scared of you, Ramsay. You broke my trust."

“I didn’t mean to”, Ramsay looked almost helpless, “I don’t understand- out of everything I’ve done to you, why is  _ this  _ the one thing you can’t forgive? Cutting you, whipping you- that hurts a lot more, so why this?”

“You took something that was meant to be beautiful”, the boy whispered, “and you ruined it. The other things are meant to hurt, meant to feel bad. And this… you destroyed this for me.”

“...I am sorry.”

“Of course you are”, he let out a dry laugh as tears kept dripping down his cheeks, “you couldn’t even bother to get my name right. Myranda, really? Now she’s suddenly entertaining enough?”

Ramsay did not look at him, whether it was out of anger or true regret. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, barely audible, “maybe it’s easier to hurt her than you.”

  
  
  


Just as he was mentally getting better, David was getting physically sicker. He started to feel dizzy a lot, often losing his balance and tripping because of it. Theon expressed obvious concern, but David just waved him off, assuring him it wasn't too bad and would go away on its own.

Instead, things got worse. He began waking up in the middle of the night, feeling extremely ill and throwing up. At that point, even Ramsay began to worry. And then David collapsed and fell out of the blue one day.

"That's it", Ramsay said, helping him back to his feet, "you’re going to a maester. You keep getting worse, you'll hurt yourself if you keep falling over like that."

 

"I'm fine", David muttered, his breath heavy. He had trouble standing as the world around him wouldn't stop spinning, so he clutched Ramsay's arm tightly, "I don't need to see a maester."

Theon, or rather the blurry mess in front of his eyes that he assumed was Theon, put a hand on his shoulder, "David, you just fell over out of nowhere."

"I'm clumsy."

"You're not clumsy, you're ill."

"As much as it hurts to say it, I agree with Reek", Ramsay wrapped an arm around him to keep him from falling again.

At that moment Margaery Tyrell came walking past, accompanied by her grandmother.

"Your Grace!", Ramsay called out to stop them, "may I ask for your help? David refuses to go see a maester when he's clearly not feeling good. Maybe you can convince him."

Margaery frowned, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing", David said.

"A lot", Ramsay said, "he's been throwing up a lot recently and keeps complaining about dizziness."

"Throwing up?", Margaery looked at David, "but you don't seem very sick at mealtimes. Recently you've been eating almost twice as much as usual."

 

"Because I'm  _ fine _ ", David sighed, "I probably just need some rest. I don't want to go see a maester over a little uneasiness of the stomach."

"Well you don't need to see a maester", Olenna said suddenly, "I believe I know what's wrong. Say, child, when was the last time you had your.. you know, your moon’s blood."

David was taken aback by the unexpected question. He frowned in confusion.

"I don't know", he admitted, "it's been quite a while... way too long."

As he spoke the words he realised what Olenna was trying to say. David tensed up, shaking his head rapidly, "...no. No, that's not possible."

The old woman shot him a sympathetic look, "it is, dear. Those are the usual symptoms."

"I don't understand", Ramsay said, "..what does it mean? What's wrong?"

David wasn't able to reply. As the realisation sunk in, his mind turned completely blank.

Theon stared at him, understanding, "you... you're pregnant."

 

"Pregnant", Ramsay repeated, "you... he.. we're having a baby?", a genuine smile spread on his lips and suddenly David found himself crushed in a bear hug, "that's perfect! We're going to have a child! David, say something! ...David?"

And then he passed out.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David isn't too happy about the recent news.

When David woke up again he was laying on a soft surface that didn't feel like his bed. He shifted slightly before opening his eyes to look around. He lay on soft grass in the Keep's yard, his head resting on Ramsay's lap. He could make out Theon sitting across, his knees pulled up to his chest.

What are we doing here...?", David asked slowly, letting out a yawn, "what happened?"

"You fell unconscious", Ramsay said, brushing a strand of hair from his forehead, "I decided it may be a good idea for you to catch some fresh air. It's more healthy for the baby."

"For the baby", David repeated, “ _ our _ baby. We're having a baby. I think I’m going to pass out again.”

"You're not", Ramsay frowned, "that's not healthy either."

 

“Stop saying that!", David abruptly sat up, immediately regretting that decision as his head began spinning yet again.

"Careful", he heard Theon say, feeling the man's hand on his shoulder, "you shouldn't move so fast."

"Could the two of you please  _ stop _ telling me what I'm supposed to do?", the boy backed away from his touch and tried to get up, "I have bigger problems to deal with, I’m going to have a fucking  _ child _ !”

"I don't see a problem with that", Ramsay said, "it’s not a bastard, I will have my heir and you will have s cute little boy to care for. That’s perfect!”

"No, it's not!", David snapped back at him, "I- I can't raise a kid! I’m not good with children, I’d be a horrible parent!”,  his vision began to blur, "I don't want a child... I-I'm too young to be a dad!"

 

Theon did his best to calm him, "you'll do fine, don’t worry. You’re not alone."

"Besides, you’re not  _ that  _ young", Ramsay shrugged, “sixteen is a perfectly normal age to have a child at. Come on sweetling, it's not the end of the world. Stop crying."

"I'm not crying", David replied as he began to cry.

"David", Theon said gently, "you need to calm down. Everything is going to be  _ fine _ ."

Ramsay wrapped his arms around the boy's waist and gently but firmly guided the latter’s head back onto his lap, "why are you so worried? You make it sound like it’s going to kill you.”

"I'm not worried for myself, I'm worried about the baby!", David made a half-hearted attempt to struggle out of Ramsay's grip, "I don’t want it to have a bad childhood. What if we’re going to be awful parents?”

"Why do you think it will have a bad childhood?”

David looked up at him, "I want my child to grow up with happy parents that love each other. We’re not happy parents when I panic everytime you touch me.”

Ramsay shrugged, “then I’ll make you fall in love with me.”

David let out a bitter laugh, "you think after everything that has happened between us I could really love you?", he tilted his head to his side, "I may not be able to leave you but I won't fall for you either. Ramsay Bolton, the day I tell you that I love you will be the day I die."

  
  
  


From this day on David wasn't allowed to be on his own anymore. Ramsay made sure that he was always in the company of either Theon or Margaery or himself.

"Just to make sure", he told him, "in case you get hurt in a way that could affect the baby."

“We only want what’s best for the baby", David replied dryly.

He still wasn't able to speak of that topic without panic rising in him. But as much as he hated it, he couldn't change the situation he was in. And a lite part of him was determined to make the best out of it, to be be as good of a parent as he could. After all, it wasn’t the child’s fault it wasn’t born into better circumstances.

One day Tommen suddenly declared that he wanted to make sure Ramsay's and David's child would have a bright future to look forward to. He assured Ramsay of his position as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North and told him, if any of the living Starks should ever try to take it from him, the Boltons would have support from King's Landing. He even went so far as to offer him a place in his small council, but Ramsay refused politely, stating that he prefered to go back to the North eventually.

 

And go back, they did. At last, they planned their return to Winterfell. However, David didn't want to leave with unfinished business at hand. So one evening after dinner he went looking for Loras Tyrell.

He found the Knight of Flowers standing alone on a balcony, watching the people walk by below.

"Ser Loras", he said quietly, stepping closer, "may I talk to you?"

Loras turned around to meet his gaze, "do you want to tell me you’re leaving the city? At least this time it’s the truth.”

David felt his heart ache, "..no. I didn’t want to leave while I still owe you an explanation… and an apology. I’m sorry I haven’t been honest with you, I should have told you the truth right away. But I never expected things to turn out the way they did. I just… want you to know that despite everything my feelings for you were not a lie.”

 

Loras let out a sad chuckle, "you don't have to apologise. I mean... I don't think  _ I _ would have had the courage to tell someone about this. I'm not mad at you for that. I’m still happy I got to know you.”

David let out a breath of relief, "I'm… glad to hear that. That little time we had really means something to me. I hope you find the love you deserve.”

“I hope the same for you", Loras sighed, "you really are a fascinating person, David. Take care of yourself."

As the knight flashed him a sincere smile, David felt a warm feeling wash through him, "I will. Goodbye, Loras."

"Goodbye."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, this story has almost reached its end, thre are only four more chapters to go. At this point, I'd really like to thank everyone who' still reading. Please tell me all your thoughts and opinions on this, I always love reading people's comments. Are you happy with the plot development? Did yo expect it to go this way? Feel free to tell me!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Boltons finally come home

When they said goodbye to the king and queen, the two of them made David promise to send letters from Winterfell. Tommen was visibly sad to see them leaving. Margaery wished them a safe journey home and the best of luck with their child. David couldn't stop himself from grimacing everytime someone mentioned the baby. To him that still was surreal.

He quickly noticed that their journey was not as hurried as the first one; Ramsay let everyone take more and longer breaks and lead them over a path with more inns so they didn't have to sleep in tents too much. When David asked him about it, he simply shrugged, "there is no need to hurry, so we might as well be a little more comfortable. And it’s less stressful for you this way.”

David rolled his eyes, "so now that I'm giving you a heir you start to worry about my health? How considerate."

"Well, would you worry about your health if I didn’t do it?”

"...no."

"I thought so."

  
  
  


One evening they didn't get far enough to reach an inn and Ramsay reluctantly declared they would have to set up tents. David didn't mind; in fact, he was more comfortable in free nature than trapped in a little inn's room. He lay down on the grass floor, watching the clouds pass over a fiery red sky until the sun had set. As the first stars appeared Ramsay lay down next to him.

"What do you want?", David asked, raising an eyebrow, "thought you weren't the biggest fan of stargazing."

"I'm just checking on you", Ramsay replied, "to see if you're alright."

"You need to stop caring for me", David said, "it's... weird."

"I know. I'm not used to this either", Ramsay said, "but I am sincerely worried about my son's health."

David laughed, "what makes you so sure it's a boy?"

Ramsay grinned, "I just have a feeling it will be one.”

“You can’t know that yet”, David subconsciously put a hand onto his stomach, “you can’t even  _ see  _ anything so far.”

"And yet it's there", Ramsay shifted closer, resting his head on the boy's belly, "can you feel anything yet?"

 

"No", David admitted, "but... I  _ do  _ feel kind of different. Truth be told, I’m still a little scared.”

"You don't have to be", Ramsay said, "I will protect you and our child from any harm."

David let out a sad sigh, "I wish that was true."

"It is!", Ramsay frowned, "I'm really trying to be a good parent. Mine were awful at their job and I’m willing to be better than that.”

The boy looked at him, "you really mean it?”

"Of course I do", he shrugged, "I never really had a family to care about. Now that I do I will do everything I can to care for them.”

  
  
  


At last, they arrived at Winterfell. David hadn't really cared for the weather back in King's Landing, but the further north they got the more he realised how cold it was. He was still wearing the clothes he’d been gifted in the city but those were made for taking walks in the sun, not in the snow, so he soon began to shiver with cold. Ramsay took notice of it and threw a cloak around his shoulders as soon as they passed the gates of the keep.

"Thanks", he muttered, truly grateful for the warmth, "I guess winter is coming after all."

Sansa seemed delighted to see them return. She pulled David into a hug, flashing a wide smile. However, her face fell when she heard the news about the pregnancy.

"You don't look happy", she said quietly, "did... did it happen under bad circumstances?"

David simply nodded, avoiding her gaze, "it doesn't matter anymore. Can't change anything, can I?"

"Well...", Sansa said, "I grew up with three younger siblings. Maybe I can help raising the baby. I'm sure it's going to be a wonderful little boy or girl with you as a parent anyway."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm reeeally sorry this chapter was so short. But the following chapters are all longer, now that we've almost reached the ending. So stay tuned!


	26. Chapter 26

A few months passed by. David couldn't deny his pregnancy anymore as his belly started to show a bulge. His clothes began to grow too tight, making him more aware of it than he wished for.

Ramsay got more cheerful every passing day. He had a maester tell him in detail which problems could possibly occur during pregnancy and how he could handle them. The more obvious David's belly grew the more often did he put a hand on it or rested his head there.

One night, when he felt a slight movement under his touch he grinned in pure happiness.

"He moved!", he exclaimed, "David, he's moving! I felt something!"

"You don't have to tell me", David chuckled, "it's been kicking for a few days now. Keeps waking me up in the middle of the night."

"And you didn’t tell me?", Ramsay asked, obviously disappointed.

"I didn’t want to wake you up. And you wouldn’t have let me go back to sleep until you felt it too.”

The young Bolton looked down at David's stomach in awe, a gentle smile crossing his lips.

"Hey little one", he said quietly, "I can't wait for you to be born. You will be a perfect little boy, I know it."

"What if it's a girl?", David asked, "it... it wouldn't be suited as a heir then."

Ramsay shrugged, "then we'd have a sweet little daughter. We could still try again for a boy.”

"You mean you would rape me again."

 

Ramsay furrowed his brows and looked up at him, "it doesn't have to hurt, you know? I could make you feel good too."

David shook his head, "the thought alone still makes me sick."

"I can change that! I can treat you well, really", Ramsay took his hand, "just trust me."

"It's not that easy to trust you", the boy sighed, "can we drop the topic, please?"

"Of course. Let's talk about something more positive", Ramsay squeezed his hand gently, thinking, "hey, we should decide on a name! I mean, for the baby."

"We're not going to call him Ramsay."

The young Bolton laughed, "I wasn't planning to!”

David gave him a small smile, "we should pick both; a boy's and a girl's name, so we have one no matter what it's going to be."

Ramsay nodded, "...picking a female name might be difficult. I wouldn’t want my child to be named after a whore I’ve fucked before and that means there are a  _ lot  _ of names we can’t use.”

 

"Maybe  _ you _ should decide on the girl's name then", David suggested.

Ramsay nodded in agreement, "sounds good. I think of a girl’s name and you pick one for a boy?”

The boy smiled, "alright.”

Ramsay once again placed a hand on his belly, "hear that, sweet one? Your parents are going to come up with the perfect name for you. I don't care whether you're going to be a boy or a girl", he flashed a warm smile that made David’s heart skip a beat in a way that hadn’t happened in a long time, "I will love you anyway."

  
  


As time passed David noticed how Ramsay became softer. In front of other people he still held up the image of the strong and powerful Lord Bolton, but as soon as they were alone he turned into a happy soon-to-be father. Seeing Ramsay act so completely out of character was strange, but David preferred this over the sadistic attitude he portrayed otherwise. He still hadn't forgiven him for what he did but seeing Ramsay go out of his way to make sure David and the baby were alright made him feel more comfortable around him. He only rarely flinched anymore upon being touched, nor did he complain about it.

 

When they were faced with the possible occurrence of complications caused by stress, Ramsay expressed sincere worry.

"If there should be any issues during labour, our first priority is your life", he explained to David, "of course the child's health is important too, but we'd care for your safety first."

David gulped, "I hope everything will be alright. You're certainly not helping me worry less."

"Don't think about it too much", Ramsay took his hand, "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine. I'm keeping my promise, no harm will come to either of you."

David chuckled nervously, "I don't think you have an influence on that."

  
  
  


And then, at last, the day came when David went into labour. He immediately got rushed into his room and told to lay down on the bed. Sansa and Theon were allowed to stay in the room to assist and keep him as calm as possible. The only one who wasn't allowed to be with him, in order to not stress him out further, was Ramsay.

When the maester told him he should wait outside, he screamed at the poor man in rage.

"Those are my wife and child!", he yelled, "I  _ need  _ to be with them!”

However, the maester refused to give in and shoved him back out of the door, "my lord, you would only make him more nervous, I fear. Please go and wait outside until it's over."

David barely remembered anything from that point on. His memory only came back in pieces and pictures; Theon holding his hand, Sansa speaking to him in a soothing tone, people rushing around him and pain. Immense pain like nothing else he had ever felt. Then suddenly it was gone and he heard a high-pitched cry. David remembered crying tears of joy before the world around him turned pitch black.

  
  
  


When he woke up again Ramsay was with him. He sat on the edge of his bed, cradling a bundle of furs and blankets in his arms. From the other side of the bed, a maester leaned over him to feel the temperature of his forehead.

"Is it over...?", David asked slowly, blinking a few times, “what happened?”

"You passed out, it’s been quite a challenge for your body", the maester explained, "but apart of that, everything went well. You gave birth to a healthy little boy."

David slowly turned his head towards Ramsay, smiling, "Ram, we have a baby boy."

"I know", Ramsay chuckled, looking down at the bundle in his arms, "when you blacked out they handed him to me and I haven't let go since. Do you want to hold him?"

"Yes", David reached out his arms for Ramsay to carefully lower the newborn into them. The little boy was fast asleep, shifting slightly in his blankets. David pulled him to his chest, admiring him in awe, "he's so tiny."

 

"I know he is", Ramsay leaned closer to place a kiss on the child's forehead and another one on David's lips, who more than willingly returned it.

"So?", he asked with a big smile, "what do we call our little boy?"

"Symon", David replied, looking down at the sleeping newborn, "his name is Symon."

"What a beautiful name", Ramsay gently stroked the baby's cheek, "welcome to our family, Symon."


	27. Chapter 27

Time passed, quicker than David would have wished. To him it felt like Symon grew up way too fast; everyday his little wonder got a little bigger, everyday he fell in love with him all over again. The days after Symon was born felt like heaven. The proud parents barely let him out of their sight, still amazed how happy the tiny boy could make them.

And then the joy was over and Ramsay and David had to focus on serious business. One  issue followed another, keeping them occupied and too busy to care for their baby boy the way they wanted to. First Rickon Stark and Osha appeared on their doorstep and it took David a lot of persuasiveness to convince Ramsay to let them live. A little while later they got a message from King's Landing asking for help. Tommen wrote about a certain silver-haired girl that had appeared in the city claiming to be the rightful queen and threatening to unleash her dragons if she was denied her throne. The case of Daenerys Targaryen left Ramsay especially restless.

 

“Maybe I should personally go there and get rid of her", he said one night as they lay in bed.

“Don’t even think about getting yourself in trouble", David replied, glaring at him, "you'll stay right where you are, I'm not raising our son alone."

Ramsay rolled his eyes, "thank you for your concern.”

He took a deep breath, "but that Targaryen girl... doesn't her story sound familiar to you? Her mother was sent away from the Seven Kingdoms when she wasn't even born. She’s the rightful heir but someone else took her place by force. And now she returned to claim what should be hers.”

David frowned, "what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying it sounds an awful lot like Walda and her child."

 

“You’re telling me you're scared a  _ baby _ is going to take away everything you worked for?", the boy sighed, "come on, Ram. I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon."

"Well maybe not now, but at some point in the future", Ramsay stared up at the ceiling, "when the kid's all grown up, just like the Targaryen girl. Maybe I should have killed him after all. He could be a risk for Symon one day and who knows if we'll still be around to support him then?"

 

"Ramsay, look at me", David waited as his husband reluctantly did as he asked, "Symon is your son. A  _ Bolton _ , he’ll grow up to be strong and witty, it’s in his blood. I have no doubt he'll be alright when the time comes,  _ if  _ anything like that will happen in first place. But for now, he's just a kid, a baby. And I don't want to think about him all grown up yet. For now, I want to enjoy watching him take his first steps and saying his first words. Can we do that?"

Ramsay watched him in silence for a while. Then, slowly, he nodded, "alright. But we still need to figure out how to get rid of the dragon girl before Tommen accidentally hands over his crown."

  
  
  


During the time both of his parents were busy solving politics, Symon was left with Theon. Ramsay did not trust many of his servants to care for his son and David would have trusted Theon with his life, so the decision to let him babysit was made rather quickly.

Theon had been irritated the first time the baby was handed over to him, but he grew into his role as a nanny pretty quickly. There was something about the little boy that fascinated him; the child was always calm, never made any trouble and barely cried even at his young age. Theon had known several of the Starks when they were babies but none of them had smiled as easily and often as this little boy. He soon found himself enjoying the time he spent with Ramsay Bolton's son.

  
  
  


As time passed, the child grew. As soon as he learned how to crawl he started to roam the castle. David and Theon often had trouble keeping up with him. It didn't take long until Symon was able to stand up on his feet and soon he took his first clumsy steps, one hand held by each of his parents, walking straight towards Theon with surprising speed and determination. David didn't stop smiling the entire rest of the day afterwards.

"He's growing up so fast", he said when he and Ramsay went to their chambers in the evening, "if we don't watch out he's going to just get up and walk away from us one day.”

Ramsay laughed, "he wouldn't come far with Reek watching every step he takes."

David let out a happy sigh, "he looks like you, you know? Symon.”

"Pale, dark hair, bright eyes", Ramsay shrugged, "we both look like that, David. I’d be concerned if he didn’t inherit that.”

"That's not what I mean!", David elbowed him in the side, "obviously he looks similar to us in hair and eye colour. But he has your facial features as well. Your pouty lips, pointed ears... hell, he's even starting to grow the same sharp teeth!"

 

Ramsay smiled, "he has your eyes though. Your annoyingly beautiful warm puppy eyes."

"That was the nicest insult I've ever heard."

"It's not an insult", Ramsay stepped closer to him, resting his hands on David's hips, "you know... it's been quite a while since we last had some.. 'couple time' alone."

David immediately tensed up, taking a step back, “in case you have forgotten, it took me multiple months to recover from the last time.”

Ramsay's smile fell and was replaced with a frown, "it doesn't always have to be like this, you know?", he reached up a hand to gently stroke his cheek, "if you let me, I can make it better this time. I owe you that much."

David shook his head, giving him a sad look, "I'm scared, Ramsay."

"Please", Ramsay said quietly and David felt himself getting lured in by the calm tone of his voice, "at least let me try. I'll stop immediately if you're getting too uncomfortable."

David went silent for a moment. Then, hesitantly, he spoke again, his voice cracking from nervosity, "...do- do you promise?"

Ramsay placed a kiss on his forehead, "I promise. I really want you to enjoy it."

The boy took a deep breath, "alright. I'll trust you, Ramsay."

 

He wasn't sure if that was a good idea. In fact, he was convinced it was the worst idea he ever had. He didn’t trust Ramsay,  _ should  _ not trust him. Yet something told him that Ramsay meant what he was saying. Maybe it was the look in his eyes, maybe it was the soothing tone of his voice. But a few minutes later he found himself lying on the bed with Ramsay above him, gently trailing kisses down his neck.

He winced at Ramsay's touch, his heart beating heavily in his chest, "what.. what if it hurts...?"

Suddenly his confidence vanished and David began trembling, "R-Ramsay wait. Maybe we... we shouldn't do this after all, I feel weird.."

As tears began to form in the corner of his eyes Ramsay stroked his cheek, watching him with an expression of sincere concern, “David. David, calm down. It's alright, I won't hurt you. See, I’m not doing anything right now. Take a deep breath, calm down. Everything is okay.”

 

David shakily breathed in, trying to not hyperventilate. Ramsay kept whispering reassurances to help him calm down again. His hand found David's and they slowly intertwined their fingers. Finally, David found his voice again, "I... think I'm fine now. Y-you can continue."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes", collecting all his confidence he leaned up to kiss Ramsay, "I mean it. I trust you."

Later that night David went to sleep, curled up in his husband’s arms with a happy smile on his lips.

  
  
  


Ramay tried hard to be a good father. He never had a happy childhood and he sincerely wanted things to go better for his own son. However, he soon learned that being a father and Warden of the North at the same time was not the easiest thing to do.

As soon as Symon learned to walk on his own he grew a habit of running up to Ramsay only in the worst possible moments, especially in the middle of war councils.

On one of those days when the toddler tapped into the room, Ramsay tried to simply send him away.

 

"Symon", he said calmly, "what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be with Reek?"

The little boy just smiled at him, "I wanna play!”

Ramsay sighed, "I don't have time to play with you right now. Go look for your dad or Reek, I'm busy. And  _ don't touch anything _ ."

Symon pouted but didn't move away. Ramsay decided to just ignore him and get back to the business on hand, studying a map that lay spread out on the table in front of him, "so; we definitely need to send more men south to support Tommen. Maybe if we use ships they can trap the Targaryen men from behind and-”

He trailed off as he noticed a tiny hand reaching out for a corner of the map. Before he could react Symon had already ripped a big part out of it, leaving a gap all the way up from Dorne to King's Landing.

 

"What did I  _ just _ tell you?!", Ramsay yelled at him, slapping the boy's hands before harshly yanking the torn map piece from him, "look at the mess you made! You destroyed my map!"

Symon looked up at him with shocked blue puppy eyes before bursting out into tears. In this exact moment, David stepped into the room. Seeing his little one cry he immediately stormed over to the two, "Ramsay! What are you doing?!"

Picking up the toddler he glared at Ramsay, "what's going on, why are you  _ hitting _ my little boy?!"

"He's interrupting me! He shouldn’t even be wandering around here", Ramsay growled.

"And because of that you  _ hit  _ him?!", David wrapped his arms protectively around the boy, soothing him, "it's alright sweetheart, you did nothing wrong. I'm sure your father didn't mean to get angry", he shot a furious look at Ramsay, "he won't do that again."

"How else is he supposed to learn something?", Ramsay rose from his seat, towering over David, "you're handling him too soft anyways. He's a Bolton, he's not made of glass!"

"He is just a  _ child _ , he doesn't know any better! You could have just scolded him instead of hurting him!"

"Hurting him?", Ramsay let out a dry laugh, "I barely  _ touched _ him! He won’t die from a little slap.”

 

David took a deep breath before meeting Ramsay's pale gaze with an amount of confidence he wasn't even aware he still possessed, "fine, Ramsay. I will give you a choice; you either raise your son  _ my _ way, or you won't be raising him at all."

At that Ramsay's jaw dropped, "...you can't stop me from  _ raising _ him. He's my child too!"

David simply flashed a bitter smile, "fucking watch me."

Without waiting for a reply he turned on his heels and walked off.

  
  
  


The exact same evening Ramsay did something David would have never expected from him; he apologised.

"I may have overreacted a little", he said meekly, "I'm just stressed out with all the shit going on in King's Landing and I guess I have a lot of anger building up inside me that I can't always keep inside."

David sighed, "you should at least be able to control yourself in front of your son. If you need someone to take your anger out on then take me. You terrified the poor boy.”

Ramsay raised an eyebrow, "you want me to take out my anger on you?"

"I don't  _ want _ that", David replied calmly, "but if it helps you be a better father, go ahead. If I recall correctly, a few bites and bruises always lift your mood. You’ve done worse to me than that.”

"It certainly helped to distract me", Ramsay flashed a crooked smile, "does that mean you accept my apology?"

David shrugged, "I'm not the one you need to apologise to."

  
  
  


The first thing Ramsay did on the following morning was to kneel down in front of his son.

"Symon", he said slowly, "I'm very sorry that I got angry with you. I didn't mean to do that. You know, sometimes adults have to do a lot of work that's no fun and they get very stressed because of it", he smiled, "...but if you want to, we can fix the map together and then I'll tell you about all the places it shows. Would you like that?"

Symon flashed the biggest smile and wrapped his small arms around Ramsay's torso, “I wanna play with the map!”

 

Later that day David found Ramsay asleep in his chair with Symon curled up and sleeping in his lap and a halfway repaired map spread out in front of them. He couldn't help but smile at the sight as he heard a voice behind him.

"Beautiful image, huh?", he turned around to meet Theon's gaze, "it's rare to see them both completely so calm.”

"Yeah", David replied quietly, rolling his eyes, "we'd both get more rest if they did that more often."

"Maybe", Theon grinned, "but that would be boring.”

David chuckled, "we’re a chaos of a family, really. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.”


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long journey's end

Over the next few years, more living Starks showed up at Winterfell. Ramsay never harmed a single one of them, but the mere fact that they were alive made it hard for him to keep up the loyalty of his bannermen. House Bolton did not have the best reputation around the Northerners anyways and the fact Winterfell should belong to the Starks did not help a bit. Ramsay tried to keep his family out of trouble, especially his son, but the longer they ruled over Winterfell, the more people began to truly hate the Bolton family. And then Symon’s seventh Name's Day arrived.

 

The day started perfectly fine with Symon excitedly jumping onto his parents' bed to wake them up. Ramsay, who wasn't too happy about being ripped from his precious sleep, simply slung his arms around the boy and laid back down.

"Father!", Symon whined, struggling in his embrace, "I don't wanna spend all day in bed! Dad said I could have a big cake all for myself today!"

"I said you could have a cake", David grinned, "I never said you'd get to eat  _ all _ of it. What should we eat then?"

Symon shrugged, "let the cooks make a cake for everyone!", he turned in Ramsay's arms to poke the man's cheek, "pleeease father, can we get up?"

Ramsay rolled his eyes but smiled and let go, "damn you and your puppy eyes!"

 

Afterwards, they spend a beautiful morning together, playing with their little boy. To David it felt almost like they were an ordinary happy little family. When Symon finally couldn't wait for his cake any longer they went out to the yard to have a little picnic below the bright blue sky. In the evening the boy asked to sleep in his parents' bed and after dinner, he was so exhausted from the day's events of fun and playing that Ramsay had to carry him to their chambers.

Symon was already snuggled up on the bed and his parents about to change into their night wear as they suddenly heard a distant shout.

 

"What's going on?", David asked, instinctively moving closer to his sleeping son.

Ramsay only gave him a confused shrug, "I'll go take a look."

Just as he reached out to open the door it swung open on its own and a very panicked looking Theon stormed into the room.

"Intruders", he stammered between heavy breathes, "in the castle. Stark men. F-fire. Everyone is running, big chaos, big big-"

"Reek!", Ramsay impatiently slapped him across the face to stop the babbling, "tell me what's wrong,  _ slowly _ and in full sentences."

Theon looked at him with an expression of pure horror, "Winterfell is on fire and falling apart. They want to return it to the Starks. If you don’t leave this place  _ immediately  _ you’re as good as dead."

 

David did not hesitate for a second. He picked Symon up from the bed, ripping the poor boy from his sleep. In the meantime, Ramsay grabbed his longbow that stood leaning against the chamber wall and swung a set of arrows across his shoulder.

"Daddy?", Symon asked, rubbing his eyes, "..where are we going? What's wrong?"

"Don't worry baby, everything is alright", David replied quickly, "there are some bad people inside the castle but we will get out right now."

Ramsay walked over to them to place a quick kiss on his son's forehead, "I'll keep you save. Just follow me and try to stay quiet."

As he moved back towards the door, David called after him, "Ramsay, wait! Before we go there's something I have to tell you. I l-"

"Don't you fucking dare!", Ramsay glared at him, "you're not saying it until we got out of here safely. And we  _ will _ get out. All of us. Now hurry up!"

  
  
  


Rushing through the halls of Winterfell they came past into multiple servants running in the most different directions. Every single one of them had a look of sheer terror displayed in their eyes. David felt his stomach turn as the faint smell of smoke reached his nose.

They ran until they reached a large empty hall with two doors; one right behind them, the other all the way across. David just needed to take a single look to realise the hall would not last a lot longer; apparently, there had been some destruction from above because several pieces of the ceiling had crashed onto the ground.

Ramsay started rushing to the exit on the opposite side of the hall; in the exact same moment that multiple knights stormed in through that door.

 

"Well look at this", one of them said with a dark smirk, "all three Boltons trapped like birds in a cage."

"What is your goal here?", Ramsay snarled, "the Starks have been in the castle too, do you wanna kill them off with us?"

"Don't worry about the Starks, we made sure to get them out of here safely", the knight drew his crossbow, "and once you're dead, Winterfell will rise again under a Stark ruler.”

Ramsay aimed an arrow at the man's head, "we'll see about that."

David spun around to escape the way they came from; only for Theon to push him out of the way in time as the stone ceiling above the door frame crumbled and crashed down to the ground, cutting off their way out. With rising panic, he realised their only possible exit lay right behind the intruders who were now slowly moving closer. Looking them over he noticed almost all of their weapons were meant for close combat except for the crossbowman. That meant Ramsay might be able to kill some of them before they reached them, and David... he felt the dagger Ramsay had given him years ago grow heavy in his pocket. He hadn't used it in forever but if this would help him save his family, he wouldn't hesitate.

 

"Theon", he said, turning to the still terrified looking Greyjoy, "take Symon, I'm going to fight."

"What? No!", Theon protested, "if you have a weapon give it to me, it doesn't matter if I get hurt anyways!"

"Yes, it does!", leaving no room for further discussion he thrust the boy into Theon's arms, "I won't just stand there and watch when I have a family to protect!"

He drew the dagger from his pocket and spun around, his gaze quickly wandering over the men moving closer, trying to decide on a target. His eyes only landed on the man with the crossbow in time to see an arrow aimed right at him being released from the bow.

And suddenly he was stumbling backwards, Ramsay standing in his spot, facing the knight. Ramsay let out a muffled pained grunt, shooting an arrow straight at the other man's chest before dropping his bow to the ground. He took a few shaky steps backwards, almost making David stumble once again before sinking down against the wall.

 

"No", David's voice cracked as he stared in horror at the sight of his husband, "no,  _ no _ ! W-why...?"

Ramsay coughed up blood, looking down at the arrow sticking out from under his ribs, "...told you I'd keep you save."

David's mind rushed as tears rolled down his cheeks. In milliseconds he made a decision. The icy shock in his heart turned into hot rage as he picked up Ramsay's bow, snatching an arrow from him, "you will pay for this. Every. Single. One of you."

 

He looked over his shoulder at Theon clutching the terrified Symon to his chest, "Theon, run. I'll keep them away from you until you reach the door. Run, find a horse, take the Kingsroad. Bring my boy to King's Landing safely."

As he began aiming arrows at the approaching enemies Theon stood completely frozen, "w-what about you? I'm not leaving you here, you're coming with me!"

“They’ll try to kill me", David snapped, "ans Symon with me. But nobody will pay attention to you. He’ll be safer with you than with me. I.. I'll keep your back save so you can run. And I’ll make sure nobody's going to follow you", he nodded towards a big crack in the ceiling, just in front of the exit door.

Theon understood immediately, pulling Symon closer against himself, "...you won’t get out. You’ll die in here.”

"I know", David's vision blurred in a mix of tears and blind rage as he continued raining arrows down onto the knights, "it doesn't matter as long as my son is safe."

From the wall Ramsay coughed to gain Theon's attention, "Theon Greyjoy", he flashed a crooked smile, “take good care of my boy. And now hurry, there’s not much tune for great farewells.”

Theon nodded, turning to David a last time, "I don't care if we're related or not. You’re a brother to me."

David smiled through his tears, "you are my brother Theon. Always and forever."

 

And then Theon began to run. David shot arrow after arrow to clear his path. Watching the two of them safely exit the door, he aimed another arrow right at the crack in the ceiling and shot. Tons of stone crashed down, completely trapping him in the room together with the few knights left.

Dropping the bow to the ground he once again drew his knife and stormed forward to take them down in close combat. Rage and grief flooded his mind, blinding him. It felt like his body was acting on its own while his mind was completely blank. 

 

The next time he could form a clear thought the remaining knights lay dead to his feet and he was panting heavily. His whole body suddenly felt a lot heavier and his stomach seemed to be on fire. Looking down on himself he realised the pain was coming from several cuts and wounds at his stomach; none deep enough to kill him but all of them bleeding heavily. Using the little bit of energy still remaining to him he stumbled over to Ramsay, sinking down next to him. His husband's eyes were half-lidded and darkened, but he was still breathing unevenly.

"I wasn't aware you could fight so well", he rasped and David couldn't help but stare at the blood splattered around his lips.

"Me neither", David whispered, flashing a bitter smile, "...am I allowed to say it now? What you wouldn't let me say earlier?"

Ramsay chuckled but it sounded more like a mix of coughing and choking, "I can't stop you, can I?"

 

David leaned in to lightly kiss his cheek, "I love you. Have loved you for the last couple of years."

"I know", Ramsay replied softly, "I always knew", he spread his arms, "come here."

David shifted closer into his embrace, careful to not touch the arrow sticking out from below his ribs.

"So... this is it", he said quietly, "I'm either dying from slowly bleeding out or the fire will end me... or a part of the ceiling crashes on top of me."

Ramsay looked at his stomach, where the fabric of his tunic turned red from blood, "...a painful way to go, isn't it?"

"Yeah", David breathed out, "painful and probably crucially slow. But the worst part will be having to watch you die."

"You think I'll be the first one to die?"

 

"You've lost a lot of blood. Most likely you'll faint soon and then I'll lay in your arms waiting for your heartbeat to come to a stop", a single tear rolled over David's cheek, "I failed in the end. I wasn't able to keep you alive and now you're dying and I'm forced to watch."

"It's not your fault", Ramsay managed to put on an exhausted grin, "at least dying for my family is a better death than being eaten by hounds."

David chuckled. His whole body hurt from the effort, making it harder to breathe. For a few moments they just sat there in silence, cuddled up against the wall; one barely breathing, the other grimacing in pain at every inhale.

"I'm starting to get tired", Ramsay muttered, "but… I’m not leaving you while you’re still in pain.”

David shrugged, "you can't fight it forever. And I'm bleeding out too slowly", he let out a long sigh, "at least I still got to tell you I love you. You deserve to hear it, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner."

Ramsay went quiet for a while. David almost thought he may be gone already but leaning against his chest he could still hear his heart beat softly.

 

"David?", he asked finally, "you trust me, don't you?"

"Yes", David breathed, "of course I do. I love you."

"Good", Ramsay said, "that's all I need to know."

He shifted slightly to kiss his husband. David returned the kiss and for the first time in years it calmed him down, left him completely peaceful. Letting out a happy sigh he closed his eyes just to snap them wide open again as he felt a sudden pain at his throat. He opened his mouth but all that came out were strangled noises and blood.

Ramsay cradled him in his arms, the bloody dagger still in hand. David could have almost sworn he saw those beautiful pale eyes watering up.

"You don't deserve a painful death", Ramsay whispered, gently stroking a strand of hair out of his forehead and placing another kiss on his lips, "go to sleep now, sweetling. I’ll follow you soon enough."

 

David quickly got dizzy from the lack of air and the amount of blood flowing from his sliced throat. And yet he smiled. Ramsay, in his final moments, was granting him the mercy of a quick death. It was his way of showing affection one last time. And he had never loved him more than in this second. Closing his eyes he leaned into his warm touch. David died happily in Ramsay's arms.

The Bastard of Bolton watched his chest rise and fall for a few more times before it stopped altogether. With a sigh he leaned back against the wall, closing his own eyes. Now he finally was ready to rest himself.

  
  
  
  
  


Symon had sobbed when they had found a horse and he hadn't stopped until they were already far down the Kingsroad and away from the burning remains of Winterfell. Nobody had seen them leave, nobody had followed them. Theon had ripped a cloak off a corpse when they ran, followed by a bag of coins and a dagger. The cloak was now wrapped tightly around Symon's body while the dagger was hidden under Theon's sleeve.

 

The boy had only stopped crying when he had passed out from exhaustion and Theon had one arm wrapped around the small body to prevent him from falling off the horse. With a sad sigh, he looked back at the way they came from. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel; his worst nightmare and best friend were both dead. It felt surreal to think that tomorrow he would wake up in some inn at the road instead of the kennels at Winterfell. Ramsay wouldn't be messing with him and David wouldn't stand up for Theon.

 

The life he had grown used to had completely vanished. He didn't know what the future held for him. But one thing he did know; there was a small boy sleeping against his chest who desperately needed him and Theon was ready to give everything in order to keep him safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the end of this journey. I'm sorry this doesn't have a happy ending, but honestly, it's a Ramsay Bolton fanfiction. What did you expect? Thank you to everyone who's read all the way up to here, I really appreciate it. This story means a lot to me, it's the first one I've ever really finished and liked enough to upload. I'm aware OC insert fanfictions are not really the most well-liked genre but I hope I did a good job on it anyways.  
> Again, thank you for reading all of it. Please tell me your opinion in a comment (you're also allowed to yell at me for the ending like my beta reader did).  
> That's all I have to say for now  
> See you in the next story~


End file.
